


A Change of Routine

by An Observing Litten (HarukaWritesThings)



Series: Litten's Narrative [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Action, Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Adventure, Angst (a little!), Battling, Boys In Love, Capturing, FirstFriendShipping, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Humor, Love, M/M, Platonic Love, Pure Love, Romance, SatoGou, Soft Boys, Talking Pokémon (Thank Litten for this), journeyshipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:14:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24125722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarukaWritesThings/pseuds/An%20Observing%20Litten
Summary: I was having my usual morning promenade until I accidentally crossed my path with a group of two male human children. I had no idea that the next three days would be quite an adventure!
Relationships: Gou | Goh/Satoshi | Ash Ketchum
Series: Litten's Narrative [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1745155
Comments: 10
Kudos: 67





	A Change of Routine

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my very first Pokémon fanfic! It started as a simple idea but in the end this text turned out to get the same complexity as an official twenty-four minutes animé episode. It was a fun creative experience!
> 
> A few quick notes: 
> 
> \- I like to think that this story happens somewhere between episode 22 and 23 of Pokémon Journeys/Pocket Monsters (2019)!  
> \- I'm not an English native speaker so I ask apologies in advance in case the writing is a little weird sometimes.  
> \- Canon characters' voices = Japanese  
> \- (EDIT June 2020) There's a prequel text to this chapter and series named "Other Step" that is published in my AO3 page!  
> \- (EDIT September 2020) Now the chapter has got an illustrated header!  
> \- (EDIT November 2020) I did a general revision to the text to fix grammar and verbal snags, as well doing very minor alterations. Tags were added. Some links were added for the purpose to improve the overall reading experience.  
> Please enjoy the read!

My morning walks were pretty much equal for quite some time. Awakening in my Trainer’s apartment after listening to the first Spearow caws and Pidgey coos, delight myself for breakfast with optimized ration for Fire-type Pokémon’s digestive systems, stretching my paws, jumping to the window and walk down the streets once the sunbeams warm up the rough tar floor.

My walks had no destination in particular. I could go to the docks to observe shoal of Magikarp competing with each other at the surface to see who could Splash higher and test their courage. A courage that could be interpreted by many as mere unconsciousness because sometimes a Pidgeotto would come by and offering a last trip ticket to an unlucky Magikarp that would be trapped in between the Flying Pokémon’s claws. A pity. This happened five days ago and I admit I got impressed that the Fish Pokémon managed to Splash the same height as the electric post that is right before the water margin.

Back to the morning walk destinations, I also enjoyed passing by the city’s park. There was a good bunch of Drowzee that were greet me with Hypnosis, fantastic for a quick nap! Interestingly enough I never remembered about my dreams whenever I decide to sleep here but it doesn’t matter. My naps are always good in here! That is when I'm not interrupted by an annoying Diglett trying to dig its next hole right under me. I hate grooming my fur out of soil for more than twenty minutes. And then there's the urban area where I would just choose a tall tree and rest myself over, observing people’s quotidian lives. It's often very boring. Humans with their phones stuck on their ears, always in a ruckus back and forth, carrying folders and wearing fancy suits. Humans carrying shopping bags with their children. Except for that day where a Wingull has stolen a pack of potato chips out of Robert’s groceries shop and was being chased with a broomstick. _Hilarious!!_

I know what you’re thinking: I must have been extremely bored. Well, sometimes yes. Even though nothing much happens during the dawn strolls, I enjoyed doing them. Then I return to my Trainer’s apartment and the cycle restarts roughly twenty hours later. This kind of routine was broken three days ago, in fact. I didn't return to my Trainer’s home for three days. Don’t worry, everything was alright. The last time I did this was to see Vermilion’s Four-Days Cosplay Festival, in hopes someone would dress up like me. Fennekin? Twenty-four. Charmander? Fifty-three. Oh, and there was one Tepig. A single one. Three Torchic and Chimchar and seven Cyndaquil. Litten? _Zero._ I lost faith in humanity in this last festival. But that only lasted until three days ago, at the same time I’ve absented from my house. All because of two children I’ve seen getting out of Vermilion’s biggest PokéMart in the middle of the morning.

One of them had brown eyes, thick eyebrows, a hair color making justice to his name and some funny looking cheek marks resembling lightning bolts. He wore a red cap, indigo shorts, a t-shirt and a blue coat. This boy carried a Pikachu on his shoulder. The other boy was a little skinnier but was wearing a very minimalist outwear through black pants, and a grey and red short-sleeved sweatshirt. He had a charcoal-coloured short hair with fire-red highlights, blue eyes and prominent eyelashes. This boy was sort of accompanied by a Raboot, in which I took time to notice him.

They seemed to be enjoying an ice cream each. And the flavor choices were interesting from what I could tell by their color. I personally love vanilla. And with strawberry together it's like making a Plusle and Minun do a tag team battle. The ash-haired boy had suddenly picked up his own spoon and snagged a piece of the charcoal-haired friend's ice cream ball and he was very upset. No wonder, I would be upset too if other Pokémon was stealing me my favorite crunchy treats! On the other hand, the cap-wearing thief was laughing out of satisfaction and didn't seem affected by the other boy's reaction. Interestingly enough the slender lad just stared to him with a judgmental look and then let out a discreet smile. Humans are surely complicated to understand sometimes, I swear he looked mad a few seconds earlier!

I couldn't hear well the conversation from that afar, so I decided to climb down the tree and approach them. There was a good spot over some nearby storage crates and tall enough for having a good observation area. I was extremely curious to know what they were saying. But as the old popular dictate tells: _"Curiosity kills the cat"_. Or rather, _"Curiosity has framed the Litten"_.

"WHOOOOOA!!", shouted the sweatshirt child.

"W-What's the matter?!", reacted the startled lightning-cheeks human as it gave a small jump backwards and looked a bit everywhere with his head.

The other youngster stretches immediately his arm and points out a finger to a specific direction as it exclaims out loud: “THERE!! A LITTEN!!”.

As soon as I heard this, I froze completely in the floor like a prey being iced up by the unforgiving cold breath of a hungry Glalie. I was _busted_.

“Y-You’re right!!” said the Trainer of that Pikachu who also was staring at me in surprise.

The shouting boy started to eat his ice cream almost all at once and at a frenetic velocity, subjecting himself to a brain freeze and to embody a Snorlax. I tried to take the chance to run away but the blue-dressed buddy quickly interjected a “Goh, eat slower!!”.

“Says the one that devours meals with the galloping speed of a Rapidash!”, it countered the charcoal-haired fellow after swallowing the ice cream. Then it took off a phone, pointed at me and the device started to dictate a text:

_“Litten! The Fire Cat Pokémon! Fire-type! When Litten grooms itself, it builds up fur inside its stomach. It sets the fur alight and spews fiery attacks, which change based on how it coughs.”_

The youngster stored the phone back to his pocket as he commented out loud “A Litten in Kanto?! Amazing!!”.

Right after I see a Poké Ball flying towards my direction and that forced me to stop before I would be hit by it. That was close! But that was just the beginning. Other ball appeared. I gave a backflip jump and avoided it a second time. The boy started to get aggressive with the successive throws and I kept my distance to the contact of those spherical objects. Seriously, even my Trainer’s centenary great grandmother can throw the Poké Balls better that him!

“Goh, hang on!...”, said the ash-haired boy as he approached him in concern. He seemed to be eager to tell him something but he was interrupted by his panting friend.

“Very well… Let’s do it in the _hard_ way.”

The slender youngster stretched a leg backwards, bent his other leg forward, tightened his fists and launched me a glare. Thankfully he wasn't a Pokémon, otherwise I could have been paralyzed. I didn't bring a Cheri Berry with me in that day! That glare only meant one thing. He wanted to battle me.

“Raboot! Let’s _catch_ this Litten!”

Who was he talking to? I wasn’t seeing one anywhere! Then all eyes turned further, including mine, to a Pokémon that was back turned to everyone a few meters away. There was a cutting-edge silence for few seconds. Then in an eye-blink I see an incinerated rock flying towards me as fast and as threatening as a Draco Meteor casted by a Dragon Pokémon. I gave a big jump upwards and the flaming stone rebounded away. I was impressed by the power of that Ember but I wasn’t liking the arrogant attitude of that fire roedent as soon as he gave steps forward to the front of his Trainer and stared to me in scorn. I hissed him back.

“Wow, Raboot is collaborating?!”, the coated boy interjected in amazement followed up by a smile. “Alright!!”

“Excellent! Let’s do this!!” Goh said with determination. He flexed his arm sideways and commanded out loud:  
  
“Raboot! Use Quick Attack!”

Raboot charged right away at me and I got tackled five meters away. That hurt! But just a little. I quickly got up and I found my adversary looking to me with the same eyes as before. That was really rage-inducing to me.

“Well done, Raboot! Now use Double Kick!”

Raboot makes a leap of faith and aims one of his wide feet towards my direction to perform the requested move, but I wouldn’t let that happen. I gave a good jump and kicked back. Both our feet collided and we were projected backwards.

“That Litten also knows Double Kick!!”, the ash-haired boy exclaimed.

Pikachu was also impressed and cheered up for Raboot. The latter wasn’t allowing me to read his mind. It was like he had no emotions. I had to stay focused. It was since a long time I had a battle. In my last one I had the chance to use a Z-Move with my Trainer. But that wasn’t a resource now. _I’m a Litten and I couldn’t let my emotions to be easily seen._

“That Double Kick seemed powerful. Raboot couldn’t do anything…”, said Goh visibly constrained.

“Goh!! Try to keep up with Litten’s agility, they're good with heights and in frontal attacks!!”

“You’re right, Ash! Cats like heights as they can have control of everything!”, said the boy to Pikachu’s Trainer without removing the eyes out of me.

“Raboot! Never let Litten climb up anything! Keep it to the ground!”

The kid really had his homework done. That is a true fact what he said and every time I tried to find a spot to gain height the rabbit Pokémon kept blocking my way. I was getting really mad.

“Use Ember once more!!”

Raboot heard his Trainer’s command and was about to pick up a nearby footstep stone. Before that happened, I picked it up with my mouth and kicked it away further to make it unreachable. That surprised my adversaries and I was satisfied with that reaction. We were even now. I couldn’t climb heights but he wouldn’t be able to use rocks either.

“It used Double Kick to throw the stone away?! That’s a smart Pokémon here!!”, exclaimed Goh.

I took the opportunity that Raboot was trying to absorb the information to use my most powerful move, Flamethrower!! I spit it out with all my strength and made a critical hit!

“RABOOT!!”, gasped Goh and Ash. Pikachu shouted along.

Raboot stood up, resisting my Flamethrower. He had a good damage but I believe he recognized my strength because he let out a smirk for the first time. Finally! I proved I wasn't an ordinary Litten!

“That was incredible… It's not usual a Litten knowing this move!”, Ash commented in astonishment.

“Are you ok, Raboot?! Can you keep up?!”, Goh asked to his Pokémon who nodded in affirmation.

“Perfect! We can’t underestimate this Litten, it’s a smart one!” he added.

While he talked to his Pokémon I decided to throw out a Swagger. Raboot got disturbed and consequently confused. Exactly what I wanted.

“Oh no, this is bad!! That was a Swagger, your Raboot is confused!!!” alerted Ash to Goh who reacted with frowning and gritting his teeth.

“ _Come on… Think, think!... Try to think in what Ash would do in a situation like this… Agile… prefers heights… Frontal moves…_ ”

Then the eye pupils shrunk as he gasps out a _“That’s it!”_.

Raboot had a paw kept on his head as he staggered due to the confused special condition. He was a little agitated as well because of my provocation.

“Raboot, do you hear me? Run around Litten in circles and don’t stop!”

The Pokémon obeyed and did an effort to run exactly as he was commanded. I wondered if it was either an effect of confusion or part of the plan. I wasn’t understanding what was going on. Raboot was so quick that it would be risky to jump over or to run away.

“Now! Do a Double Kick SIDEWAYS and throw it up!!”

And that’s what I wasn’t expecting. My opponent appeared on my left side and managed to kick me from my belly and projecting me upwards to middle air with the second hit coming followed at that moment, launching me to distance. This move really hurt this time, my tummy remembers that!!

“Well done!!” jumped out Ash along with Pikachu in joy with a closed hand. “That was so well thought!”

“I had a good teacher!” responds Goh with a prideful smile. “Now it is my chance!”

He picked up a Poké Ball out of his pocket and yelled “GOOOO!” as he threw it to me right on my nose. The ball opened but as soon the beam of light bathed me the object stopped to light up and fell straight on the pavement, completely open. The only sound heard was me complaining about the impact for the next seconds.

“W-What?...” Goh shyly mumbled in great perplexity.

“You know… I wanted to tell you that this Litten could already have a Trainer knowing it's not a native Pokémon in Kanto…” explained Ash in great awkwardness.

“…Are you telling me that me and Raboot just _wasted_ time to battle a trained Pokémon and that I’ve spent _forty-eight_ Poké Balls trying to _capture it_?...”, charcoal-haired fellow asked with a high pitch voice tone.

Pikachu nodded with a big constrained grin, almost letting out a laughter.

Goh screamed out of his lungs out of frustration as he grabbed his head tight with the lifted arms. At the same time Ash ran towards me to tell the following:

“Hey, I’m sorry for what happened. I tried to tell Goh that you could have a Trainer already and-“

I wasn’t happy to listen to that. Why he didn't insist with that information earlier?! And he was daring enough to approach a hand on me so I scratched it in response.

“Ooouch!!!”, exclaimed the cap-wearing lad as he retreated a few steps while grabbing his wounded hand.

“Ash!! What are you doing?!”, Goh asks after listening to the small cry as he rushes side to him. Then he looks to me and says “I’m sorry for before, Litten! I didn't know you had someone alrea-“.

It was necessary to lack shame to ask my pardon after all what happened! So, I discharged a Flamethrower and to my amazement the boy that I’ve scratched before pushed the other one to the side and took the hit! My jaw dropped at that moment. Why he did that?!

“ASH!!”, yelled Goh in great distress. The boy in question had his face and hair completely black. He even exhaled smoke. Pikachu had jumped out of the shoulder before the impact and was at the floor looking anxious to his Trainer. “You protected me…”, he added.

“I didn't want you to get wounded, Goh…”, he said this with a single chord, followed by a heavy cough.

Goh, serious looking, didn't remove his eyes out of Ash for the upcoming seconds. He then put a knee down as he removed his large blocky-shaped backpack to place at his front and started to search for something inside. He first removed a pack of humid tissues and used them to clean the coated fellow’s face.

“You’re so silly, Ash… You don’t need to be my shield all the time.”

Ash was looking in surprise to Goh once he saw him removing the black layer of powder from his skin. Once the sweatshirt boy finished the sentence, Ash blushed gently at the same time he looked tenderly to him and responded:

“No, Goh… I want to be your _sword_ … Because you’re my _shield_.”

Goh’s eyes widened after listening to the compliment and his cheeks turned progressively to a reddish hue. He then rubbed hard the tissue in response. Ash started to laugh due to the ticklish feeling of the action.

“Less pressure! It is tickling me!!”

I was looking to what was happening in surprise. First, the attitude of protecting his friend even after I had scratched him, and now he threw a compliment like that? Wow. Talk about a close friendship, it was the first time I saw this between humans. _Or is there more than that? The way they exchanged looks… And their cheeks altering their pigment…_

My thoughts were cut by the Pikachu, who looked extremely friendly.

“We aren't going to harm you! They really mean it when they say sorry.”, that’s what Pikachu had told me.

I looked to the side, a bit awkward and starting to regret a teeny bit of what I did minutes earlier. Then Raboot poked my head. He seemed to have recovered from the Swagger already. I didn't want to admit it but Raboot was an extremely good adversary. I thought he would start to brag about his victory. Actually, what the roedent did was to hand me over a Sitrus Berry. Where did Raboot get it? Probably from his Trainer’s backpack considering it was easily accessible now. After some hesitation I shyly accepted the offering and started to eat it. That was surprisingly kind from the evolved Pokémon. However, I only ate half of it because I thought it was fair to share a bit with Raboot. Afterall I also tired out the fellow in the battle! The Rabbit Pokémon looked to the leftover through the corner of his eye and was equally reluctant to accept to finish it. But he did in the end! Pikachu let out a giggle and stretched our arms to mimic a human behaviour called “Brofist”. We looked confused to Pikachu, until he explained the purpose. We exchanged a look, wondering if it was worth doing it. Raboot looked away as he approached his paw on mine, and I did the same as I let a small smile escape. The Pokémon isn’t as cold as I was thinking!

I looked again to the children. Ash had already his face fully clean but Goh wasn’t done with the treatment. Now he had removed some healing transparent liquid from a flask which served to treat wounds when applied in a cotton disc.

“THAT IS SO COLD!!!”, Ash shouted upon contact with the open wound of his hand.

“Stay quiet! How do you want me to treat you if you can’t stay still?!”

“This is nothing, Goh! It doesn’t huuuUUUUUURT-AAAAH!!!

“Your nervous system tells me the opposite.”

“G-Goh, I am telling you I will be fi-“ Ash is hushed by a gentle pressure of Goh’s forefinger on his lips.

“Don’t be silly.”

He kept being treated for a few minutes until it was over with the band-aid on his hand wound. Goh picked up his backpack from the floor and wore it again. Then he bent his arms, put the hands over his waist and asked his friend the following:

“Was it that difficult?”

Ash blushed as he closed tightly his eyes and replied as he pretended to be annoyed:

“It wouldn't if you didn't insist…”

Goh shook his head sideways with a gentle smile on the corner of his mouth and then looked to me and the other two Pokémon. Ash did the same thing.

“You’re still here, Litten? I’m impressed you still didn't move out of here.”

I snapped out from my thoughts again and faced the sky blue-eyed boy. Everyone was looking to me.

"Where's your Trainer?", Ash asked.

I didn't respond. I looked to the lad, and then to Goh. Right after I turned my head to face the surrounding Pokémon who also awaited an reply.

"Could it be lost?", inquired the same youngster.

"I'm going to see if we can find any clues.", commented Goh as he walked to my direction and placed a knee on the floor to reach me out better.

I retracted myself a little as that was a pose of someone who would want to touch me. I don't like to be tapped by just anyone. But what happened a few minutes before had awakened me a feeling of hesitation: Should I let him place a hand on me? By looking to his eyes, he seemed to not have bad intentions. As my Trainer told me once, "The eyes are the mirror of a soul". Shortly after Goh lifted his hand as I was predicting it would happen. And in return, I bend my neck downwards to show I was receptive. And he pet me. It felt good.

Goh let out a wide smile immediately after. He expressed out loud:

"The fur is so silky!"

"That means Litten has got a really caring Trainer. I'm sure they must be worried about it at this time.", commented Ash.

"Oh? What's this?", interrogated the charcoal-haired boy the time he felt something on my neck. "A very small collar...", he added.

Ash reached side to Goh and bent over with his hands on his knees to look closely to the finding.

"A stone? It's quite small..."

"I think I know what this could be. Judging by the colour, the smooth texture and the round shape, it must be an Everstone."

"So, the Trainer doesn't want its Litten to evolve?"

"Or Litten might not want to."

I scrubbed my forehead on Goh's palm because he guessed it right. He seemed satisfied with that action of mine. He turned his head to Ash with confidence on his eyes.

"I believe it's a yes."

"It doesn't surprise me.", Ash commented normally with a smile. "Pikachu never wanted to evolve to a Raichu and it's a decision I respect.".

Pikachu nodded in affirmation once his Trainer finished to talk. The Electric-type Pokémon winked at me right after.

That was a good surprise, I didn't know that both me and Pikachu were on the same page concerning evolution! I thought we could start a friendship here.

“You're very strong for a Litten!”, Goh complimented me as he kept petting my head and then to my spine. The boy then picked up his phone and pointed it to my face. He was reading something there about me, I assumed. Goh then noted out loud:

“This Litten is a female, apparently!”

“A female?”, Ash questioned in a neutral tone.

“Females are rarer than males in Starter Pokémon. So, it makes this Pokémon even more special!”

“Awesome!” he grinned as he crossed his eyes on me again. “You remind me of my Snivy. She also has a special temper and she's a prideful Pokémon! You would probably get along.”

Interesting, I thought. The coated lad got closer to me and continued to talk but with a tone of honesty:

“Once again, I'm sorry for before. I just want to be your friend and help you finding your home. I promise we won’t harm you.”

“You can trust in Ash, Litten!”, Pikachu joyfully added.

Raboot nodded in affirmation, without saying a word.

Goh kept smiling and removed his hand out of my head the instant that Ash stretched his own, now with a band-aid, close to my face. Just like his human friend, his eyes gave me confidence. I was impressed that he was neither mad nor intimidated after me because of the scratch. That was a really intriguing human there. Few seconds later, I decided to lift my paw and placing it on the boy’s opened palm. He let out a small giggle along with Pikachu.

“Alright!! We’re even!”

“Well done, Ash!”, said Goh with a smile as he closed his eyes.

“Now then, we should start looking for the Trainer of this Litten.”, stated the chestnut-coloured eye lad.

“I tried to see if there was a tag or anything but there’s nothing…”, said Goh as he kept checking for information on his phone. “What we could do should be going to the Pokémon Center and see if anyone has claimed her.”

“Good idea, Goh. Is it far from here?”

“Not really, it is just a six minutes walk according to the Rotom Phone’s map.”

“Let’s go then!”

Ash picked me up with his arms and we all walked together to the Pokémon Center of the city. It was a good ride. The lightning-cheeked youngster had a warm skin and was cautious in how he carried me. I could see some people looking to me upon passage. I was wondering why. They never saw a Litten before? Or a cat? Who knows? There was a second that I wanted to jump out because there was a delicious smell coming out from a small Sushi restaurant but I got prevented to, to my discontent.

We arrived to the destination building in no time. There were a lot of people and Pokémon inside. The smell was a bit funny too but somehow unsettling to me. And I wasn’t the only one thinking in that way. There was a Houndoom a few meters away from me that had probably the triple of my size and was shaking like a Snorunt with its tail between his legs. I believe the other three Pokémon that were nearby were mostly concerned about the bulkiness of the fire-spitting canid rather than the place where they were at. Other Pokémon seemed completely normal or even happy, like a Slowpoke that was being handed over to a human by a pink-haired human behind the counter… although one could argue where could you find a Slowpoke that wouldn’t be smiling all the time.

“Be careful next time you stand close to a Gloom!”, advised the white-dressed lady.

“I will! Thank you so much, Nurse Joy!”, said Slowpoke’s Trainer as he picked him up and left.

The boys then approached her now that she was available.

“Good morning! How can I help you?”

“Good morning, Nurse Joy! We found this Litten wandering around in the street and we figured out that she’s got a Trainer.", explained Ash.

"I see. I’m going to see if there’s anything in our database.", reacted the lady as soon as the boy finished the explain the situation. She started to type on a nearby computer for a few moments. "No, there isn't any claiming for a missing Litten...", she commented with some notable concern in her voice.

"That's odd...", Ash commented as he looked to me and paused for a bit. "Maybe her Trainer didn’t realize yet that she got lost?"

"That's a possibility.", said Nurse Joy. "What I can recommend is to come back later and see if someone has filed a claiming towards a missing Litten. Alternatively, I could phone you in case someone appears and makes an accurate description of the Pokémon."

"Oh, that's a good idea. I can share my phone number!"

Ash carefully placed me over the counter as he shared the necessary information. They also pointed the phone to me again as well to my collar.

"Thank you! Maybe it would be a good idea to make a quick check-up to her just to make sure everything is fine."

The moment I heard that and the boys agreeing about it I felt a chill down to my spine. Not a medical check-up!!!

"Goh, shouldn't your Raboot have a check-up too?"

"Oh!! I nearly forgot about the battle of before! Sure!!" exclaimed Goh in surprise after hearing Ash's question. Raboot walked close to the counter and climbed it. The Rabbit Pokémon sat down in a tray and threw a naughty look to me. I didn’t like it; I knew he was mocking me for the fact I was hesitating to go inside due to my fear of being in hospital environments like this one. Suddenly, I felt something in my belly and let out a cry of surprise but it was only Nurse Joy picking me up and placing me on the tray alongside with Raboot.

"I’ll be back in an instant!", she said with a smile as she pushed the tray cart inside a room. Pikachu waved as he said "See you in a while!". Soon, I wasn't seeing them anymore. Just some plain walls with strong white lights in the ceiling. I couldn't stop trembling and to arch my body. Raboot was chuckling mischievously. "This is _not_ funny, Raboot!!" I harshly interjected. The big-footed company closed his eyes and gave a subtle smile out of his fur collar as he turned forward to the direction of the corridor.

Thirty minutes later I was out of that terror scenario. Thankfully there were no unwanted objects during the check-up procedure, except for those suction pads that were a bit too tight on my skin. My check-up was quicker than Raboot, who seemed to be peaceful with everything it was done to him. The boys were returning to the counter. They have been apparently playing something in their phones before, judging by the comments they were doing afar before being called by the pink-haired human.

"How’s Raboot?" Goh asked.

"Raboot had some light wounds but they were easy to heal." she calmly reported. "As for Litten, she also had some minor ones but they were equally treatable. She is, however, a quite nervous Pokémon... she couldn't stay quiet inside the room! I had to call a Chansey to help her to relax." she observed with a giggle in the middle.

Now that was an unnecessary information to share, thank you. I noticed throughout my peripheric vision other judgmental look from Raboot, who I could tell that if it wasn't for the surrounding humans he would burst into laughter. How embarrassing!!

"Good to see everyone’s alright! Thank you, Nurse Joy!", thanked the chestnut-coloured eyes youngster as he picked me up and Raboot had gotten up by himself to stand closer to Goh.

"You're welcome. If I obtain any information about Litten's Trainer I’ll give you a call!"

The boys waved and left out the building, stopping a few meters away from the entrance.

"Are you sure you’ll listen to the phone once it rings?", questioned the red-shaded hair boy with sort of a tone of irony to his friend.

"O-Of course I will!! I have put the volume in maximum to make sure I won't miss it!" reacted Ash visibly annoyed.

"Right, now don’t forget to play videos out loud in the ferry boat and then telling me you ran out of battery.", he continued but with a more evident smile on his face.

"Don't call me out!"

Goh laughed. Ash realized the real tone of the comments so he quickly returned to the usual mood. He then asked normally:

"Now what should we do?"

"It’s too late to return to the laboratory so I think we should keep Litten with us until we’re back from the investigation from the Sevii Islands."

"You've got a point. If we backtrack, we’ll lose the trip."

The cap-wearing lad paused for a quick moment before he looked to me and asked the following question:

"What do you say, Litten? Do you want to travel with us until we find your home back?"

To tell the truth, I wasn't really lost as they were all believing. If I wanted I could just jump off from Ash's arms, walk away back to my Trainer's apartment and pretend that nothing happened. But I've been so bored lately and these two humans and their Pokémon partners have been so interesting that I wanted to hang around for longer. A bit of holidays from Vermilion City wouldn't harm me anyway. So, I accepted by meowing out loud with a smile.

"Great!! I hope you can trust us, Litten!" exclaimed Ash in satisfaction as he laughed and let me jump to the tar floor for me to able to move freely.

"Looks like we’ve got an extra company in this trip!" happily noted Goh. But the smile didn't last long the precise second he read something in his mobile device. "A-Ash! We should hurry up!! The Seagallop boat departures in 17 minutes!!"

"Oh, man!! We’re better to sprint out immediately!! Let's go!!!" shouts out loud an agitated Ash who begun to run instantly after. I started to regret to have gotten out of his arms, considering that Pikachu stood on his Trainer's shoulder. Goh and Raboot were already following him. "Wait up!!!", I shouted as I had put a use in my legs to catch them up.

And we managed to reach the transportation method just in time. I was panting furiously, _ooof!!_ I could barely breathe! The last time I raced like this was to run away from an angry Tauros that escaped once from a truck and I was unlucky enough to be crossing its path... _and to have red fur too_.

"T-Three minutes later and we... we would have missed it!..." stated Goh in an effort to complete the sentence due to how tired he was from the running.

"Seagallop is extremely punctual, I notice that..." said Ash as he was literally dropping his weight over the safety metal balustrade while breathing heavily.

Raboot seemed to be ok. He just touched his back towards the back of a plastic chair and looked to the clouds as the wind was blowing to his face.

Pikachu hopped down to the floor and approached me. He innocently asked "Are you alright?".

"Sort of... I’m not used to run this much anymore...", I replied.

"You don’t get out from your home a lot, don't you?"

"Well... Let’s say that I prefer to run on my own rather than being forced to.", I chuckled out of awkwardness.

"You're a funny Pokémon!", giggled Pikachu along after listening to my statement.

"And you're very nice, Pikachu!"

We laughed for a good while. During the boat trip, we talked a little. Pikachu has told me the many adventures he has had with his Trainer. They went through a lot of stuff! And I knew he wasn't telling everything, because a day wouldn't be enough. This Pikachu was extremely friendly, one of the nicest Pokémon I have ever met. He even told me he had met other Litten before, who ended up evolving into Incineroar and helped along to win the Alolan Championship, as a Torracat!

Raboot never got out of his spot. Was he meditating? Was he sleeping while standing up? Only Arceus knew.

I could see the boys were sitting down in the chairs for most of the trip, especially in the first half. They were either talking, checking things on their phones or just staying silent. At a point, the grey-shirted youngster got up and placed his crossed arms over the grid, staring to the sea. A soft breeze was whistling to his hair which softly moved in rhythm. The other boy realized and decided to join him. I could listen to their talk.

"Is everything alright, Goh?"

"It is."

There was a small moment of silence. He then kept talking.

"I was thinking in the findings we’ll do in the islands."

"I’m sure we will find many great things in there!"

Goh nodded in affirmation.

"Professor Cerise says there’s plenty of Pokémon diversity living in these islands, including species that you can't find easily in Kanto!"

"So, you’ll capture as many as you can, ain't I right?"

"You can bet I will!!", Goh closed tight his hand as his eyes shined as strongly as the sunlight. Ash laughed after his buddy's fiery reaction.

"I wonder if I can find trainers to battle and rise up the World Coronation Series ranking!"

"The population of the islands is much smaller but we never know!"

"I believe there must be anyone, even if it’s just one single Trainer!!"

The boys kept talking for the rest of the trip. At a point I decided to peek through the grids and watch the sea. It reminded me of the waters of Alola, except it was much darker and more turbulent. I was enjoying to see the jumping Mantine until a Seadra appeared out of nowhere and has spitted an unpleasant water bullet right on my face and made me give a quick reflection jump backwards of the height of a Luxray. _No more water-peeking again!!_

Once I finished to groom my face, we had just reached our destination. As we were exiting the ferry boat, we could hear a voice coming from a speaker.

_"We have just disembarked in Island One, also famously known as the Bond Island. It is currently 30ºC and the skies show very few nebulosity. We hope your trip was pleasant and thank you for choosing the Seagallop Ferry Boats!"_

The climate was surely more pleasant than the one of Vermilion City, my fur was appreciating it! And there was something interesting about this place that I couldn't even explain myself... I just feel there’s anything special. Raboot was moving more actively as well, even though he tried to not show it. The Rabbit Pokémon probably felt the same as I did. But what could it be?

"And we're here.", said the blue-eyed boy.

"So, what's next?"

"To do the hotel check-in."

"Is it far from here?"

Goh had every information needed on his electronic device, without any surprise.

"No, Ren booked a room in the closest hotel to both the port the and Pokémon Center for our convenience."

"That was very well thought!"

"And the hotel, according to the geolocation data, it’s eight hundred meters away from us."

"A good opportunity to stretch our legs, I couldn't stand still anymore!"

"Tell me about it. The day you stand still will make a Druddigon learn how to _Fly_!"

The boys laughed in the way. I found curious that Ash didn’t get mad after that comment. I guess he knew that Goh was joking? I confess I would have enjoyed to see a flying Druddigon. What are their wings for anyway? Beats me!

A while after, the check-in is done inside the hotel. It was a rustic style but very tidy and comfortable. I liked the coziness that the stony greyish-brown walls and the wooden ceilings were giving to the common room. I got satisfied to learn that the boys’ booking had an identical decoration! Even the floor was heated!! The space had a small skylight, a television, a compact desk, a wardrobe, a bathroom and... a couple bed? Not badly thought, there's space for everyone to sleep over in the end!

The first thing Ash did was to throw himself to the mattress, much to Goh's disapproval who immediately censored his behavior.

"Seriously, Ash? We’ve just arrived!!"

"The bed’s so comfy...", he responded in great relaxation.

Pikachu climbed the mattress and started to use the bed like a spring-board. He was having fun!

"Even Pikachu approves the bed!", pointed his Trainer without lifting his body from his place.

"And I disapprove the decision of messing it up before bedtime.", replied Goh while frowning and placing his bag over the desk to search for specific objects.

Ash ended up sitting down on the mattress and looked to Goh who was back turned. A large grin covered half of the cap-wearing boy's face, who got up a few moments later and hugged his friend from the back. The other one gave a small leap of reflection due to surprise and was frozen at his standing place:

"A-Ash...!!"

"Are you upset after me?", asked the coated lad without stopping to smile.

" _N-No, but..._ ", responded the grey-shirted youngster with some notable constringent on his voice. He deviated his look. " _Not now, Ash..._ "

"You're very nervous today.", said his friend as he crossed his arms with some slight confusion on his face. He decided to change the subject to improve the atmosphere. "So, now what? We’re at One Island."

"I’m checking the information that Professor Cerise has left for us about what we need to do in this archipelago. And from what I just read now in this document; our task is to be done at Seven Island."

"What does it exists there?"

"The Tanoby Ruins. Very ancient Pokémon are said to live there and what we need to do is to investigate what we can find in that location. There’s only one problem..."

Ash silently tilted his head as he waited for his friend to finish the sentence.

"There are only two travels per day to that island. The first one is at eight of the morning. The second one is twelve hours later. Picking up the second one would be too late for us."

"You're right.", affirmed Ash as he scratched his head. "Does this mean we have this day off?"

"I suppose.", said Goh with a minor smile on the corner of his mouth.

Ash picked up a touring guide about the Sevii Islands and read the information written about the specific geographical location they were at. Something had sparked the interest of the boy.

"I know! I know what we could do!!"

"Eh?"

"Goh, look at this!"

The lad read the text that the other one was pointing at and read it out loud.

"Treasure Beach?"

"Let’s go to the beach!!", exclaimed Ash enthusiastically.

"What?!", awkwardly interjected Goh out loud.

"Come on, Goh! The boat we can catch is only tomorrow and we haven't been getting much free time lately! It’s good to take a break in the researches once in a while! Let’s have some fun!!"

The lightning-cheeks human moved away to remove something out of his backpack and we quickly realized it was to show a pair of swimming shorts. Goh's cheeks were gradually turning red after that action for some reason, it was funny.

"Pretty please!!", asked the energic boy without removing his wide smile from his face. Pikachu was mimicking Ash's facial expression as well in an attempt to convince Goh to accept. Shortly after, Raboot walked closer to Ash and just looked normally to his Trainer from afar. Even the fire roedent was agreeing with the idea!!

Goh wasn't saying a word. He was sweating _so much_ from that forehead!! He stared to me with a rather intimidating look. As much as I sympathized with this lad and have understood he wanted my support, I also wanted to feel again a bit of sand in my paws to remember the days at Alola, so... I joined the group that wanted to go to the beach and sat down close to Pikachu with a normal smile, followed up by a grin. Sorry Goh, but I also liked your friend's idea!

"Four against one..." sighed Goh out of frustration as he placed a hand on his head. " _Alright_ , you _won_."

"Yeah!!", celebrated Ash in high volume. "I knew it was a good idea to store your swimming shorts inside your backpack!"

" _...You did what?!_ "

The charcoal-haired boy nervously searched inside his backpack immediately after listening to Ash's comment. He then removed a pair of swimming shorts and looked to him with a great will to tell him something. By the way he stared, I’m sure he was about to explode and yell anything at any moment!

" _You little trickster!!!_ You aren't supposed to touch other people's belongings!!"

"You'll thank for the idea later! Now tell me that you at least brought some sunscreen!"

Goh stood quiet for an instant until he slowly picked up a bottle from his bag and showed it. It was definitely sunscreen!

"I brought it to protect our skins knowing that the weather forecast was telling that the ultraviolet lights would be strong in the Sevii Islands so..."

"That's Goh right here: always thinking ah-"

A roaring belly echoed the entire room. Everyone looked to Ash's stomach. That made Goh smirk for the first time since we had entered in this space.

"We're not going to the beach before we have some lunch, isn't it?"

Ash laughed awkwardly while placing an arm behind his head, with his face becoming the same colour as a Tamato Berry.

"Remember, you can't go to water before you finish digestion so it’s better you get ready in the bathroom. I go after."

"Right away!!", interjected Ash as he buzzed out quickly to the bathroom and closed the door to get equipped. I just looked to the Pokémon side to me and Pikachu just shrugged his arms commenting:

"When it comes about food, Ash embodies the speed of an Electrode."

I laughed once I heard that. It was pretty accurate. Raboot didn't say a thing. Actually, he never said a thing since I first saw him earlier in the morning.

A few minutes later, the boys had already dressed their swimming shorts and have also applied sunscreen before wearing their normal clothes. We then left the hotel room, towards a restaurant with an esplanade with a view to the docks. They also served food for Pokémon and it was _d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s_. I suspect that among the ingredients there was some Pecha Berry juice involved because I love sweet flavors. I didn’t see what the boys were eating but the smell was quite interesting. They seemed happy with the meal at least. So did Pikachu and Raboot for their picks.

After the feast, we went right towards the beach. There were few people taking sunbathes, playing some games or going for a dive. Ash's eyes shined the moment we gave our first step into the sandy terrain. He lost no time to undress and be in swimming shorts, startling Goh in an eye-blink who grabbed Ash's arm before he would start to race towards the water.

"What did I tell you earlier?! _No diving_ before digestion is over! I don't want you to get sick!"

The boy pouted in response as he gently removes Goh's hand from him. "I completely forgot...", he said.

"You need to be patient. Help me at least to setup our spot.", asked Goh while removing a towel from his backpack.

"Sure, I help!"

They quickly setup their standing zone by stretching the beach towel over the sand. Then, they sat down and drank a bottle of water each. Once done, the children started to discuss what it could be done before they would be able to swim in the sea.

“I brought an inflatable beach ball with me. I could call all my Pokémon to make up a circle and organize a ball catching game!”

“That’s a good idea, Ash! It will help to spend time!”

Ash went to his belongings and picked up a good bunch of Poké Balls at once to send out his partners. “All right, everyone! Come all out!!”

The following Pokémon appeared: Dragonite, Gengar and Riolu. The Dragon Pokémon hugged Ash instantly upon sight, making him shout out of discomfort due to the strength of the arm wrapping.

“ _Less strength, Dragonite!! I am happy to see you too!!! Now put me down, please!!_ ” _._

Dragonite heard and obeyed. The boy was giving a loud relief breathing as he massaged his own shoulder.

Gengar was flying in middle-air in circles, laughing out loud. He seemed to be enjoying the climate.

Then there was Riolu who seemed to be uneasy, looking to his surroundings. Pikachu gave a small pat on his back while saying “It isn’t to battle, Riolu! It’s to have some fun together!”

“Fun?”, the blue Pokémon asked.

“Yes! I love to battle but we need to enjoy our time doing other things as well!”

“Uhm… ok then…”

Their Trainer called for the three Pokémon’s attention.

“Guys, we have a temporary company in the meantime. This is Litten, she’s staying with us until we find her home once we return to Kanto!”

Dragonite smiled and cried out a loud “A FRIEEEND!!” and was flying towards my direction to give me a good glomp. I couldn’t escape from it, the Pokémon was too quick! Boy, he surely had strong _aaaaarms!!!_ I _almost_ suffocated. But he was good-spirited and told me he was sorry for going super enthusiastic with the hug once he noticed I was panting out loud.

Suddenly I feel a chill behind me and something touching my shoulder. I turned and I saw nothing. I felt other poke in the opposite shoulder. I looked again and still nothing. Then my tail was pulled and I saw a huge grinning face chuckling and I got a good scare. It was Gengar’s trickster nature acting right there. “A new face!” he said. “Let’s have some good time together!”, Gengar added. A trickster, but good-spirited as well.

“Hi.”, greeted Riolu with a rather dry tone. _Great. I met Raboot Number 2._ But at least this one had a tongue that wasn’t bitten by a Torracat.

“That was a very warm greeting.”, I reacted with some sarcasm. “Hi for you too.”

The Emanation Pokémon shrugged with indifference and added: “Just enjoy your time.”

Ash had inflated a beach ball at the same time I was interacting with his Pokémon. He then called us once more to request everyone to form a wide circle. We were about to start a game. Oh yes, I love games!

“The rules are quite simple! I will throw the ball to a random player and the receiver must not let it fall to the sand. If anyone does this it’s out of the circle! The same rule goes in case someone grabs the ball. Never do it!! Just knock it to other player!”

“Sounds fair to me.”, affirmed Goh. He then looked to all of us and asked “Did you understand the rules?”.

We nodded in affirmation.

“Good.”, the boy turned to Ash and smiled. “You can start anytime!”

“Ready?... _Set…_ Go!”

And the game started. Ash threw the ball to the air and gave a strong knock towards Gengar. The ghost was quick to react and immediately knocked it to Pikachu. The yellow Pokémon gave a large jump upwards as he pulled out an impressive Iron Tail move! Wow! Oh!! It was my turn!!! I ran a few meters away to make sure I was not missing it and I hop to the air as I use my Headbutt move to send it to Dragonite.

“Hey!! Litten also knows Headbutt! Nice one!!” exclaimed Ash in amazement.

Dragonite received the ball with his tiny claws, forgetting that he wasn’t supposed to grab it! “Disqualified! You’re out!!” pointed Goh with a smirk.

Gengar laughed out loud as he told him “Your loss!”.

“Oh… Right, I forgot _ehehe…!_ ”, commented Dragonite with an awkward giggle. The optimistic scaled Pokémon flew away to a little further and sat down on the sand to observe the remaining match.

“Since Litten was the last player to throw the ball correctly, she should be the one now to serve.”, suggested Goh.

“I agree. Bring it on, Litten!!”, told Ash to me.

Good, I could now choose who I wanted to lose. After an inspection to who was still in the circle I made up my mind. I used my head to throw the ball up and then I performed a Double Kick to make the ball pass over Raboot’s head. Look at that rabbit running! There’s no way he would catch the b-… _what?!_ _WHAT?!?!_ The ball was flying back to the circle!!! Raboot got it?!

“Who is it for?!”, yelled Pikachu a bit startled.

It was coming closer to Riolu who effortlessly used a Vacuum Wave almost vertically. Now we couldn’t see the ball at all of so high it went. We all kept staring to the air. It was taking so long that even Goh picked up his Rotom Phone from his pocket to check what time was it. He seemed as intrigued as me.

“ _Over forty seconds have passed…_ ”, the boy commented in a low tone.

“Riolu, next time use less strength for your moves!” advised Ash to Riolu with an awkward chuckle.

“ _Any day, now…_ ”, I commented to the other Pokémon.

“ _Showoff._ ”, told Gengar in a kidding tone to Riolu.

“Shut up and play. This is not over yet.”, coldly responded Riolu as he crossed his paws behind his head.

“I won’t lose!”, said a confident Gengar.

Raboot was already back since a while. He didn’t say anything, with no surprise. Dragonite was curious to see where the ball was so he flew up to see if he could find it. Shortly after the dragon quickly returns to the ground as he warned us “It is descending!! Get ready, everyone!!!”.

We all changed our stance for the eventuality of the ball returning to any of us. The boys were intrigued with our change of behaviour but they understood what it was all about.

“I think the ball must be falling!” exclaimed Goh as he changed his pose and saved his phone back to the pocket.

“I figured! Time to return to the game!”, said Ash as he also got ready to the possibility to be the next receiver.

And we finally saw the inflatable object appearing from the sky. It was coming to Goh’s direction!

“ _I GOT IT, I GOT IT, I GOT!!!_ ” he shouted out loud but visibly agitated as the ball was falling really fast and it was difficult to see the exact place it could land. The boy gave a leap of faith with his left arm all stretched out. He was about to give a good slap in that plastic surface!!... _Aaaaand!!!_ He missed it!!! _By a scratch!!!!_ Realizing the failure, the eyelashes lad almost lost his balance when landing on sand and looked behind with his arched back and retracted arms.

“You’re out, Goh!”, exclaimed Ash while pointing to him.

“So _unfaaaair!!!_ I swear I was _THIS_ close to catch it!!”, protested Goh with his lifted voice. “ _Beaten by a Baby Pokémon, what a day…!_ ” he whispered in frustration as he joined Dragonite outside the circle.

Raboot shook his head sideways in disapproval. We were now six in the game and Riolu was the serving player. He repeated other Vacuum Wave but towards Gengar this time. The spherical object flew so fast that it passed through the ghost’s body. Realizing the risk of being eliminated he vanished in front of our eyes and reappeared in a better spot to receive the ball. Gengar used a strong Shadow Ball to project it back to the circle. It was going towards Ash who I still don’t know how but he managed to give a huge jump to reach it and knock it to Raboot’s direction. The latter almost didn’t move from his spot and just kicked it to me.

I used an Headbutt by instinct and I managed to stay in play. Pikachu used his tail once again to pass it on, back to Ash. The boy sent it to Riolu, who projected it to Gengar by repeating the earlier move, Gengar sort of panicked and pushed it with a Psychic move towards Raboot who gave an energic bicycle kick back to the ghost, ending slammed hard on his giant grinning face. That ball hit with the same energy of a meteor because it was on fire for a second!! I was sure that was an Ember move!

The purple Pokémon was patting his own cheek while recovering from the pain of the hit and then gasped in shock once he saw the ball was in the sand.

“Gengar is eliminated!!”, pointed Ash to his ghost Pokémon.

Gengar gave a small pirouette in the air and did a grimace to Raboot. “You will pay for it next time!!”, he told to the stoic fire Pokémon. The ghost landed and gave a small kick to the sand to the side while joining the defeated players.

“It will be better next time, Gengar.” smiled Goh, trying to smoothen the Pokémon’s evident frustration.

The game continues with Raboot serving to Riolu with a powerful Double Kick. The Emanation Pokémon didn’t blink his eyes and defended himself with other Vacuum Wave. Pikachu had a hard time to chase the flying ball but a Quick Attack was effective to reach it faster and return it to the circle. It was going towards my direction so I raced to the ball! It would have been a good reception if it wasn’t for the sun being on the same angle where I was, I couldn’t see the object anymore!! I lost balance and failed the hit with my paw, falling with my face straight to the ground. _Blergh!_ I was only spitting sand!!

“Are you ok, Litten?!”, asked both Ash and Pikachu as they reached me out quickly.

I shook my head off to remove most of the sand and nodded in affirmation. It was nice from them to be worried about me.

“Sorry Litten, I might have been a bit too strong…!”, apologized Pikachu as he put a paw behind his head.

“It wasn’t your fault, don’t worry!”, I assured him.

“You probably noticed it but you’re out of the game.”, noted the boy with some disappointment in his voice.

Oh well, what could I do? Rules are rules. I joined the sitting group. “You played nicely!” complimented Dragonite to me. “Better than the cocky Raboot.” added Gengar, still upset that he lost against him.

“You guys also played well!” I said with a smile.

“Good game still, Litten!”, told Goh to me in a supportive tone. I smiled back.

As the next match round continued, I started to ask the opinions of the Pokémon close to me: “Now, who do you think is going to win?”

“Pikachu has a good chance to be in the finale. He’s very agile and he can reach the ball quickly!”, judged Dragonite.

“Ash will win. He’s got an unusual strength and energy for a human being; I can guarantee you! The day I was captured I had some trouble to follow his shadow. And he had a fever! Now imagine with full health!”, commented Gengar.

“I see.”, I said.

“What about you, Litten? Who do you think it will win?”, asked Dragonite. Gengar also looked to me curious to listen to my opinion.

“As much as I believe in you guys, I think that Raboot has higher odds to win. As much I hate to admit it…”

Gengar rambled in annoyance and stated as he looked to the side:

_“If that rabbit wins, I do not know what I’ll do…”_

“Let’s wait and see. This round seems to be quite fierce.”, remarked the dragon Pokémon. “Nobody is willing to give up at this point.”

If I could talk human language, I would have asked Goh who was he betting into. He was paying to the game, appreciating its intensity. His smile was much more expressive at the instants where his human friend was the receiver of the ball. I believed it was obvious who was he supporting to become victorious. That facial expression however turned quickly into astonishment. Ash was joining us!

“You lost?!”, asked Goh in disappointment.

“Well yes, ehe…”, shrugged the lightning-cheeked human as he giggled. “Pikachu’s Iron Tail impact made the ball too quick for me to catch it up!”

“Even after that amazing low sideways body throw you did?! _Geez, Ash…_ That was so close!”

Ash smiled even more after listening to Goh’s sentence. He noticed that his friend really wanted him to win this. So, he confronted the blue-eyed boy with a sneaky facial expression:

“It sounds to me you are _very_ disappointed for me to lose this. You truly wanted me to win the match, didn’t you?”

Goh gasped in embarrassment and started to blush a little. He crossed his arms and deviated the glancing to the air.

“I-I thought you had pretty good chances to win, that’s only about it!”

Ash laughed after Goh’s reaction. That made me smile too, it was cute! In the meantime, Pikachu joined us with a slightly awkward grin.

“Congratulations in being in top three, Pikachu!”, complimented his Trainer to him.

“Thank you, Ash!”, I heard Pikachu responding. He then talked to us Pokémon: “Riolu and Raboot are very good opponents, they’re taking this very seriously!!”

“Now that you say it…”, remarked Dragonite before pausing his sentence. “They’re playing quite well even though there wasn’t much interaction.”

“For a first time playing a game like this, Riolu is doing it superbly. I’m impressed! Better he makes Raboot _sweat!!_ ”, furiously wished Gengar.

It was the final round. There was a deafening silence around us. Raboot was the server. He never changed his frowning expression. Riolu extended his arm and moved the fingers of his paws in a defying way. It was clearly signing a “ _bring it on_ ” towards his adversary. Riolu was not a teeny bit scared or nervous about Raboot. This scenario I was looking at reminded me so much a Pokéstar Studios movie from Unova that my Trainer enjoyed to watch on television. What was its name?... [The Worthy, the Useless and the Purrugly](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFa1-kciCb4)? I think that was the name. I could listen perfectly in my mind those menacing flutes, low-sounding harmonica and human vocals background music.

And Raboot made the first move: the ball transformed into an Ember once fallen on his feet. Riolu ran like the wind to the direction of the falling object and returned with a powerful Vacuum Wave. The Rabbit Pokémon gave few steps back to prepare himself and delivered a well-centred Quick Attack in the ball. Defeat was an unthinkable word for both Pokémon. They had to save their honour! Who would win in fact? The match was quite fierce. As competitive as that all-stars fighting video game my Trainer also enjoys to play once in a while in that hybrid game console.

We couldn’t open our mouths during its occurrence. It was extremely entertaining to watch. Dragonite looked nervous, Gengar was tightening his hands with all its might while grinding the teeth. Pikachu’s jaw was always open, it was funny that view. The children looked tense. They weren’t making a sound as they observed their Pokémon playing like if their lives were at stake. This kept going for the following minutes until they started to show signs of tiredness. Riolu noticed Raboot’s fatigue through the aura reading abilities that his kind is gifted after so he made a very small throw to give no reaction time to the fire Pokémon. And that worked because he couldn’t reach the object in time to avoid it falling! His pupils shrunk once he realized he lost against the newborn adversary. _That was humiliating, yet awesome!_

“Well done, Riolu! You won the game!!” Ash quickly got up while clenching his fists of joy.

“YOU’RE THE BEST, BLUE BOY!!!” shouted Gengar while partying from his sitting spot.

“Congratulations, Riolu!!”, vocalized a cheerful Pikachu.

“You’re a _very_ advanced baby, Riolu! You won my respect!!”, I told him out loud.

Riolu closed his eyes in satisfaction with a subtle smile as his cleaned the sweat from its forehead. Raboot walked to Riolu and I thought he would kick him in his rear but he actually stretched his paw! Riolu didn't react for few seconds until he decided to retribute the gesture and paw shake in appreciation for the sportsmanship. It was a very good finale! We all clapped towards that good attitude of theirs.

"You must be hungry already after all this action. Here! Have some Berries!" said Goh as he threw them to the paws of the two finalist Pokémon who started to eat right after.

"Should we go for other round?", asked Ash. "But maybe without Riolu and Raboot to allow them to settle down."

"I could play again. What about all of you?"

We raised our arms in agreement to play again.

"Then it’s settled!", smiled Goh. "It's rematch time!"

We played two more matches. Gengar won the second game and Ash the last one. I could see a faint blushing on his face when upon winning, Goh got up to lift Ash's arm and pose himself like a referee announcing the winner in a stadium. The charcoal-haired lad seemed quite proud! We then had freedom to pick up other activities. Most of us did some sand constructions, I helped out with the placement of some shells and stones I could find around. Dragonite is actually quite talented! The dragon crafted a large Golem with the moist sand, it was very close to the real Pokémon! And we figured that the boys aren't very skilled in this kind of art. I thought they purposely made up Ditto but I was wrong. There was no way those piles could be a _Paras_ and a _Rattata_! HA!!

Once everyone was done building something, except for Raboot and Riolu who both seemed to be enjoying more to meditate, it was now possible to enter in water. For obvious reasons I refused to go there. I just kept watching the other Pokémon and the children playing in the shallow water. They were having fun splashing each other upon minor sight and that started at a point where Ash had submerged for a few seconds and suddenly appeared on the surface, full of seaweed over his head and roaring out of his lungs as he pressed his hands on Goh's shoulders. Boy, I _did crack myself up!!_ Goh almost flew three meters away with the scare!

In the meantime, I decided to walk around. A sparkling object called up my attention from afar so I got dragged there by my curiosity. It was partially covered by sand and pulling it up with my teeth wasn't enough to uncover it. I had no choice other than digging. I figured out in the end it was a buried Star Piece! Could be interesting to hand it over to the children. And this wasn't the only sparkling object of the beach. It was worth maintaining my searches. I quickly placed the Star Piece on our towel and then I went to the next potentially good discovery spot. I started to understand why this place was called Treasure Beach: there were some cool items waiting to be found!

During one of my excavations I heard a nearby group of four exotic-dressed tourists taking sunbathes on their chairs. The conversation was odd. Two of those tourists voices as well, I’m almost certain one of them was a Pokémon talking. I couldn't tell with all the beach wardrobe they had, including the hats and the sunglasses. Before they started to talk, the man, lilac-colour haired, poked his elbow to the woman that was next to him. She had the longest shock-pink hair I ‘ve ever seen; it could compete with the length of an Ekans. _How does she sleep with it?..._ Anyway. She lifted her body and looked to the direction the man pointed. She then did the same thing to the shorter companion with a weird accent that also looked to the same direction as them. Finally, the very same thing happened to the fourth individual, who seemed a bit too blue for my taste. They started to mumble the following, with the man starting:

_"Do you see what I see there?"_

_"I do.", replied the woman._

_"Twerp One and Brat Boy Two at five o'clock!"_ , added the short one.

 _"Yup yup."_ , confirmed the blue-skinned one.

 _"Hang on, isn't it six o'clock actually?"_ , the lilac-haired man questioned.

"Isn't it five? Give me a pulse watch or whatever you have nearby for I can check out what time is it!!", asked the uneasy short man to the group. The blue-skinned one handed over one and the requesting individual analysed it carefully. 

"Does it _really_ matter what time is it? Save the time track for the next two days. Don't forget the mission our boss has entrusted us."

"How could we forget about it?", smirked the taller man. "I‘m confident this mission will be a _success_."

" _But first!..._ ", interjected the shortest of the four.

"Let’s enjoy our small holidays!!", they all said it in choir as they laid down back to their chairs to continue to enjoy the sunbathes. What a group of strange people, I thought. _What was that talk about?_ Were they talking about Ash and Goh? _Nah_ , it couldn't be. I kept my treasure hunting, leaving behind the weird conversation I had heard earlier.

And the remaining afternoon passed in an eye-blink. We all had lots of fun! Once we returned to the hotel, the boys had a shower one at a time. Goh was the first one to take it. During that instant, I could observe Ash for a little bit. He was talking with Pikachu and the other Pokémon, myself included. He tried to make sure we all had a good time. At a point it was funny because I spotted him picking up Goh’s sweatshirt and smelling it with some satisfaction on his face, I assumed it was to identify something. He then nervously tried to hide it when he heard Goh from the bathroom saying that he could start to take a shower as he had just finished his. Who knew that smelling someone’s clothes was bad?

Ash went inside and Goh kept us company for the following minutes, already in pajama. He thanked us for the good time he had on the beach, reinforcing that we contributed a lot for the overall fun! I got a particular compliment from the boy because of the findings I did at the beach. He was going to keep the single Ultra Ball I had found earlier, saving it for any eventual important capture he would do in future. Before we returned to the hotel the children passed by a market to sell some of the treasure. Part of the earning was for today’s dinner! Goh quickly prepared everything for everyone to dine, once Ash would finish his shower. In a particular instant, I peeked with discretion and I realized that the blue-eyed lad was looking again to the touring guide of the Sevii Islands and heard him talking low to himself:

“ _Six Island… The Fortune Island. It’s right next to the one we’re going…_ ”

The boy paused for a bit. He was then checking out the Ferry Boats schedule. He seemed to be pointing to later hours. That has intrigued me. As far I was aware, we would visit the Tanoby Ruins in the next morning and that was located in Seven Island. So why was he checking the later departure hours from Six Island to One Island? By later hours, I mean almost close to midnight. I might be a Pokémon but I’ve seen my Trainer reading a lot in books and in the electronic devices so I can recognize numbers and some alphabet letters. I'm sure that the hour Goh was looking at pointed at eleven o’clock post meridian. Are we going to research the _entire sacred day?! Oh, Arceus…_

Ash returned to our common room without any warning, yelling out loud in pajama:

“This shower felt like life!!”

Goh nearly made his belongings fallout from the desk, startled with the loud sound. He quickly saved the guides back to his backpack without removing his eyes from the traveling companion and with an annoyed expression.

“You could warn before returning, you know?!”

“Sorry, sorry!”, giggled Ash as he scratched the back of his head. He then looked around while scrubbing his hands. “Now where’s dinner?!”

“Well, if you had warned before I would have heated the food already.”, noted Goh.

“I’ll help preparing the table at least!”

And we all dined right after. Once again, a delicious meal. Riolu was the one out of all of us Pokémon to eat the most! At this rate that baby will become a Lucario in no time!! Gengar was the one that ate the least but he assured he was ok. I guess ghost Pokémon don’t need to feast the same way as us? The boys were discussing about the hours they needed to get up in the morning to give time to pass quickly by a Pokémon Center before taking the ferry to Seven Island. Goh only talked about the departure time but not the return one. I asked to myself at that moment when was he planning to tell Ash that we were going to return to the hotel super late. Talk about dedication to the research…

There was a fifteen-minute video call to the Cerise Laboratory, from what I could understand it came from. I could see the face of the Professor as the children explained how was their day and talked about me. Professor Cerise has a daughter named Chloe, who passed the whole call trying to make her Yamper calm down. The Pokémon couldn’t stop telling me to get lost. Cat lover, I noticed. This detail aside, they seemed to be nice people. I wondered if we would see them once we would return to Vermilion City.

We went to sleep thirty minutes later. The bed’s bottom corner was very comfortable. Ash took no time to fall asleep. Actually, he had fallen asleep about twenty minutes earlier than all of us. And snored quite loudly. Even a Loudred’s singing was more melodic than that. Interestingly enough, Goh wasn’t annoyed about it. I could see clearly in the dark, after the lights were turned off, that he was looking to his friend with gentleness. He gave a gentle finger tap on the tip of Ash’s nose, and he immediately stopped to snore. Wow, after all the lightning-cheeks boy had a hidden _mute button_! Afterwards, Goh laid down and turned his back to Ash. He closed his eyes and took no time to also fall asleep. Everyone had returned to their Poké Balls earlier so it was only me, Pikachu and Raboot on the bed. The two had already called it a day. It was time for me to do the same as well.

* * *

The morning arrived. Sweet Soda Pop, _what a loud phone alarm…_ My ears would remember it for the next days… The boys took their time to get up. Without much surprise, it was Goh who got up first. “Wake up, already!” he said.

Pikachu then commented to me, a little sleepy:

“ _If Ash doesn’t get up for the next five minutes, I’ll do a Thunderbolt._ It always works!”

“Five minutes? I’m only giving him three seconds. Too bad, time’s up!”, I responded.

I bent my spine and gave a good Headbutt move on Ash’s back, sending him against the head of the bed. Now he was awake!

“Litten!!”, gasped Goh out loud. He turned to Ash and asked “Are you alright?!”.

“ _G-Good morning, Litten…_ ”, stuttered Ash as he fell back to the mattress. “ _Ooouch…!_ ”

“That was an impressive Headbutt, at least it worked!”, complimented Pikachu.

“Thank you. At your service!”, I replied with a smile as I kept grooming the fur of my head.

Breakfast taken and all the belongings ready in the backpacks, we had a very quick stop at the Pokémon Center. It seems that Goh needed one Pokémon from the laboratory. Straight after, we walked to the docks and left to Seven Island. The travel didn’t take as long as the one from the boat we took to the archipelago.

The weather was colder, but still pleasant and spring-alike. The island was prominently formed by giant rocks. There wasn’t much grassland around, with exception of the Sevault Canyon. Goh tried to capture some Pokémon he saw but I think his aiming wasn’t quite right in the first hours of the day because he failed them. And one of the missed captures was partially my fault because there was a flock of Skarmory that tried to steal Ash’s backpack and I yelled a “HEY YOU, COME BACK HERE I’VE GOT SOMETHING TO TELL YOU!” and concluded with a good Flamethrower on their sharp beaks. They got so scared of my fire that they fled in a blast, giving up in the backpack theft. Ash was quite thankful for the help but Goh had mixed feelings about it.

We had a good walk before we could reach a water shore. Now what? Me and my friends looked around. Pikachu pointed and exclaimed:

“I see some chambers over there!”

“You’re right!”, I commented along. “But I can also see something on my left.”

“Could this be the Tanoby Ruins that Ash and Goh were talking about?”

“Very likely. Now the question is: how to cross? Do you know how to Surf?”

“Me?!” Pikachu let out a laughter. “I’m not a Seaking to be able to use a Water move!”

Raboot shook his head as he covered his face with the paw. I felt offended.

“What’s your problem? There are Pikachu that know how to do it!! I met a few in Alola!!!”

I couldn’t continue to talk because other Pokémon had joined us after being launched from a Poké Ball. It was a Dewgong.

“Oh? That’s a good swimming spot here!”, Dewgong commented.

“Dewgong, we need your help to swim to the furthest chamber on the left, over there!”, instructed Goh to his Pokémon who nodded in affirmation.

“It will be easy.” he told to himself and dived to water.

We all hopped to his back, and when I held myself on Ash’s cap the Dewgong interacted with me.

“So, a new face I see!”

“A new face that would like you to swim _fast_ to the destination…” I responded with nervousness.

“You’re a very tense Litten! I get it, you don’t like water. It seems neither does Raboot as well!”

Me and Pikachu looked to Raboot who was extremely tense as he was grabbing Ash’s coat quite a lot. Finally, something we could both be in agreement.

The remaining morning was spent exploring each chamber of the ruins. I heard Goh commenting during the first Dewgong trip that some ancient Pokémon were living here and described in detail that getting information about them was the primary task required by Professor Cerise. And that’s what we did.

My first impression about those abandoned and cold rooms was that there was apparently nothing in those. We scattered around to inspect for any possible findings as the boys tried to analyse the walls with their phones. We happened to encounter some weird looking Pokémon named Unown! I had never seen anything like those before! Their shapes were somehow reminding me of the letters that appear on my Trainer’s books. We all helped Goh to capture a good bunch of them, especially when Raboot wasn’t in the mood to collaborate for some of the Unown we found. Ash used Pikachu and Gengar’s help to weaken a few and I also contributed to the group by aiding on successful captures. Especially to one that resembled a question mark that was persistently getting out of the Poké Balls that Goh was throwing and trying to run away. I could prevent that by doing big jumps on the floor and on the walls to grab it up with my paws. It seems that this and the exclamation mark ones were the rarest of the Unown species!

We could celebrate the fruitful research at lunch time as we waited for the next boat in the docks. Goh was giggling in a way I hadn’t seen yet since I met this boy. He showed us his phone as he scrolled down the page.

“We registered _twenty-eight_ different forms of Unown! And this wouldn’t be possible with your help, thank you so much!!”

“Don’t mention it! I’m also here to help out!” said Ash with a wide grin on his face.

“It was nothing special! Just a small training for me!”, commented Pikachu.

I just smiled and meowed.

“How many did you capture?”, asked the cap-wearing lad to his buddy.

“ _Thirty-six._ ”, replied Goh. “Some share an equal form but the more Pokémon to investigate the better!”

“That’s true.”, smiled Ash. “Now, what do we do now?”

“I read in the touristic guide that there are more ruins that can be explored in the south of Six Island. Why not investigating what Pokémon species live in there?”

“Sounds good to me!”

An electronic voice echoed the surrounding area to alert that the next boat would departure to Six Island in seven minutes. It was the one we needed.

“Finish your meal fast, Goh! Or else we’ll miss the ferry boat!”

“I’m trying!!”

Ash got up and started to push Goh to the ramp.

“H-hey!!!! _Hang on!!!_ ”

“You’re too slow to eat, Goh!! Finish the meal inside!”

Pikachu gave out an awkward laugh after seeing that scenario.

“Oh man, here we go again.”

“It isn’t the first time he does this?”, I asked Pikachu.

“No, it isn’t. Ash is always the first one to eat the meals!”

“He doesn’t really know the definition of slowing down, doesn’t he?” I sighed as I followed everyone including Pikachu to the entrance of the vehicle. Other sea trip waited for us.

The afternoon was much more tranquil, spent in the Ruin Valley. The boys took a lot of video footage with their devices to the geologic characteristics of the landscape as well the Pokémon that could be observed from afar in different heights. Some flocks of Spearow and Fearow could be seen flying around in the sky or preening as they roosted over some tall rocky formations. And a fair number of Natu could be also sighted hopping around in few rocks way up and staring to something. It was difficult to tell where. There was a water spot too in the area where we saw a group of Wooper and Marill splashing around in a kind of game. The nearby Slowpoke didn’t seem to care much except for sleeping and enjoy the sunbathes.

Once the sun wasn’t visible to our eyes anymore it was when Goh suggested to leave. I believe that both Pikachu and Raboot have enjoyed exploring the valley just like I did. The children were very satisfied with all the multimedia material they have obtained in this location. Ash, amazingly enough, managed to capture footage of a Yanma swarm! To tell the truth it impressed everyone including Goh who couldn’t stop complimenting his friend.

“That footage is actually very well made, Ash! You didn’t even shake!”

“I’m getting much better at this!”

“You could always consider becoming a filmmaker.”

“I think I’ll keep up for now with my idea of becoming a Pokémon Master.”, concluded Ash a little shyly.

Goh giggled after listening to the sentence.

“We’re going back to the hotel, right?”, asked the brown-eyed fellow.

“No, we’re going to dine first.”

“Well sure, but it’s going to take at least one hour before we can find a restaurant nearby the hotel.”

“Who said it we would eat in One Island?”

Ash tilted his head in curiosity.

“You mean we’ll dine here?”

Goh smiled back and pulled out his phone out of his pocket to show a specific coordinate in the map. Ash looked to it and gave a shout of joy as he tightened his hands out of excitement.

“Goh, we’re going to a _buffet_?!?!”

“The treasure found by Litten that we sold yesterday night gave us a lot of money. I thought that we could dine in a fancier place to compensate the long researching day!”

Suddenly Ash turned to me with very dilatated eyes, shining like glittering gems. Before I could do anything, he laid down on the floor and gave me a big tight hug as he scrubbed the cheeks on my whiskers. I cried out a loud meow of surprise!

“Thank you _so much_ for the treasure hunting, Litten!!! I should have thanked you earlier!”

“OK, OK, now put me down!!!” I tried to say in between coughs. Pikachu laughed as he shrugged the shoulders and told me:

“Remember, Litten: if you want to make Ash happy, go for his stomach!”.

Raboot gave a small smile afar. I believe the rabbit was pleased that today he could eat as much as he would like.

* * *

We entered in the buffet about an hour later. It was definitely exquisite looking but not too extravagant. I would say it was above average aesthetical quality as the architecture was quite modern and full of light. There was a division where Pokémon could choose their meals and eat together! I was marvelled to see that among the choices there were meals that included rarer berries like Starf and Micle kinds! For the first time in my life I could taste almost _every_ _berry in_ _existence_ and do a personal evaluation of which one tasted the best!

Dewgong, Dragonite, Gengar and Riolu joined us for dinner. It was interesting to see what they were choosing. Dewgong tried out plates that included Oran Berries, a classic choice. Dragonite wasn’t quite far either, although he went for the sweetest berries and the most traditional ones like Leppa and Pecha kinds. Gengar seemed to be on the same page as me in the will to taste a bit of everything, at least I would have someone to discuss the flavours with! Riolu wasn’t certain in what he wanted to eat. Raboot took the initiative to suggest some berries as he handed over some of his choices. And the Emanation Pokémon seemed to like everything he was given to taste! Raboot was eating the same things as a way to encourage the baby Pokémon to do the same. Pikachu went close to me while carrying a Figy Berry.

“The food here is fantastic! If it wasn’t for your treasure hunt yesterday afternoon, we wouldn’t be here tonight! I want to share this Figy Berry with you as a gesture of gratitude!”

I blushed a little as I wasn’t expecting getting a compliment. I couldn’t help but smile and accept.

“You’re welcome. Actually, I wasn’t really thinking we would all eat outside in a place like this today! It was a surprise to everyone!”

Pikachu and I split the berry in half. We both said in choir:

“Good appetite!”

And chewed our halves. Pikachu started to make a grimace a few seconds after.

“Is everything alright?”, I asked.

“ _Y-Yes, don’t worry…!_ ”, replied Pikachu in a rather paused tone. His arms were extremely tense. He then opened his mouth widely and sticked out the tongue. The mouse Pokémon started to run in circles as he yelled:

“ _IT‘S SPICY!_ IT’S SPICY HOOOT!”

Everyone stared to Pikachu and Riolu out of instinct had picked Pikachu up and thrown him to a nearby water pool for Pokémon of the same type. The red-cheeked Pokémon quickly returned to the surface, panting out loud.

“You need to be cautious next time, Pikachu!”, noted Dragonite in concern.

I chuckled on my side as I kept eating my Figy Berry and commented to myself:

“Then _never_ dare to try out a _Wasabi_ _sauce_ , my Electric friend.”

And the banquet continued. I could observe that the boys, afar in the human area, were chatting much more than before. Ash had _nine_ empty plates piled up, impressive! And he was eating his _tenth_. The lad’s stomach must have the same depth as the Distortion World where a Giratina is said to exist. Goh also talked on the phone to Professor Cerise. He warned that a videocall wouldn’t be possible today because they were still dining outside and were extremely tired but they had a lot of things to show in the upcoming night once they would be back to Kanto. As soon as he said the last word Ash stopped to eat to comment that he didn’t feel tired at all, with Goh gesticulating vigorously and placing his forefinger on the front of the mouth to request his friend to hush. That’s where I thought there was something strange going on. Ash had a point. The boys didn’t look tired to me. Was Goh lying to the laboratory owner?

Six dishes and three desserts later, Ash had _finally_ finished to eat and we could all pay the bill and get out of the opulent building. The public digital watch was pointing 21:04h. My memory was recalling that the boat that Goh was checking the night before stated that one of the vehicles was leaving at 23:00h. What would we do next? It seemed a bit too dark for two ten-year old humans to go do research work alone. Soon I would know the answer. And I didn’t see it coming.

“Goh, I was checking in my phone and the Seagallop app is saying that the next ferry boat leaves in less than twenty minutes. It’s better we go now to the docks, no?”

The charcoal-coloured hair youngster didn't respond. He gave a few steps forward and held Ash’s hard, surprising him.

“Goh?”

He removed the phone from the blue-coated boy and saved it on the closest pocket.

“Come with me.”, he said as he kept pulling Ash’s arm and eventually walk in front of him.

Raboot did a grimace of confusion as he looked to us and shrugged. I also didn’t know what was going on so both me and Pikachu tilted our heads. What was that boy up to?

We marched after Goh, who wasn’t saying a word during the way. The few light posts that existed had just went on. The promenade took us to an upper level of the Six Island Town, making us able to watch the modest urban landscape. I could see the docks, the local Pokémon Center and other important buildings. The moon was full and shining at its splendour in a vibrant white colour contrasting with the pitch-dark sky, gently sprinkled with the many stars that were scattered. It was smelling wonderfully, a mix of moist soil and fresh vegetation. Probably coming from the nearby trees and bushes that were behind us. There was nobody around except for us five. We were all staring to the landscape in amazement, the view was phenomenal!

“Incredible place. The last time I saw the constellations, it was when I still lived in Alola. I feel very nostalgic right now.”, I commented to both Pikachu and Raboot.

“It’s a pity you can’t see this view many times, Litten.”, regretted Pikachu. “I hope you can go on a journey with your own Trainer one of these days.”

I looked aside and noticed that the boys weren’t close to us anymore. They were a little further, nearby the floor margin.

“This view is amazing!”, exclaimed Ash, marvelled with the sight.

“I read that Six Island is a preferred place for people to stargaze due to the lack of light pollution. I thought it was good to pass by here.”, noted Goh.

“It’s certainly easier to see the stars than in most places of Kanto!”, commented Ash. He then started to point out in excitement:

“I'm recognizing some of the star constellations! Over there is the Ursaring and the Teddiursa! The other one is Kyogre! And I see the one of Machoke holding a Seviper!”

During Ash’s stargazing distraction, Goh had given few steps back and removed nine Poké Balls from of his backpack. He was looking to them with some tension. His eyes were telling he was hesitating to do something. Seconds later, he sent out nine of the Unown that he had captured in the morning. He gave out a deep breathing while having his eyes closed and then called Ash’s attention in an assertive voice:

“Ash!”

“What is it?”

The energic boy turned to Goh and stared in curiosity to his friend. The sweatshirt lad had opened back his eyes, now shining brightly and trembling, lifted his arms up forward and had put a knee in the stone footstep. There was a silence that lasted for some seconds. Something was _definitely_ going on. Why did Goh sent out those nine Unown? Wait. I reminded the morning talk in the Tanoby Ruins. Each Unown form represents a letter or a symbol from the Latin alphabet. And I could read some of the forms. It said… “I… OV… OU!”. Bummer, I couldn’t read all the shapes. But I was pretty certain that Goh was showing a nine-character message to Ash!

“Those Unown…”, the cap-wearing boy said. “… they’re so cool looking!” Ash added with a grin on his face as he gave a thumbs up.

“W-What?!”, interjected a startled Goh as he dropped the arms more down and bent his back more forward, making him lose balance and fall.

“Ah!!”, shouted Ash who immediately rushed to the front of his fallen friend. “Are you ok?! Are you hurt?!”

“Never mind…” replied Goh in a bitter tone as he got up and made the confused Unown return to their Poké Balls. “ _You’re as dense as ever._ ”

Ash’s happy expression had quickly been replaced by a sadder one after seeing Goh turning his back to him and facing his body now to the vegetation.

“Goh, did I do something wrong?...”

“You didn’t.”, the boy’s hands were tightening up as he looked slightly sideways. “It’s me who _did_.”.

“What do you mean?...”

“I’ve been so focused lately in the researches that I’ve been forgetting to give you attention.”

Ash didn’t talk. He kept listening to Goh in silence and concern.

“Yesterday night, when you were taking your shower, I spent a few minutes to read about leisure places of interest for people to visit in the Sevii Islands. And this star-observation spot had brought up my attention. I knew you enjoy to observe the night skies.”

“So, you brought me here…”, concluded Ash in a calm tone.

Goh nodded silently.

“Instead of going straight back to the hotel, I wanted to spend some lighter time with you.”, continued the lad, and lifted up his head without moving his body position. “And what Litten did yesterday at the beach encouraged me greatly to find a good place for us to dine tonight with the earnings of the treasures. You love to eat, so what better place than a buffet?”

Ash kept silent, but with his eyes glowing more and trembling a little. Goh turned his body to face Ash again, and gave an honest compassionate smile.

“As far as you enjoyed today’s dinner and this view I’ve showed you, that’s the most important.”

Ash closed his eyes and shook his head negatively.

“You’re wrong, Goh.”

The sweatshirt boy got visibly worried after listening to that negation. Goh’s eyebrows lifted once Ash approached him and held his hands.

“I thank you for the intention, really! But you’re wrong in one thing. Dinner and star-gazing aren’t the most important. The most important is _you_ , Goh!!”

Goh let out a small gasp and his eyes trembled even more strongly at the same time his cheeks were turning slightly red.

“I _love_ every second I spend with you! Be it researching, playing, dining or doing something as simple such as looking to the stars! I love travelling with you, it makes me extremely happy! You can’t imagine how _grateful_ I am for having sprinted out of Professor Cerise’s Laboratory the moment I heard it was going to appear an extremely rare Pokémon going in Vermilion’s City waterfront, and have given a leap of faith to Lugia’s body. I could meet _you_! I could get _your friendship_! I could _love you_ as I do!!! You _know I do!!!!_ ”

On the last sentences, Ash was dropping a tear in both of his eyes as a smile ripped his entire blushing face and tightening up Goh’s hands. The other boy was already crying in silence, the tears were running down his cheeks, clearly moved after everything that Ash had said.  
  
“ _A-Ash…_ ”, said Goh in a shaky voice with a trembling body.

The cap-wearing boy gently lifted his hand to clean off the tears of Goh’s face. They crossed their sight for a few seconds and then… Both seemed to be reading their thoughts: The two boys closed their eyes, embraced each other and sealed their lips tight. The world had stopped to them, like a Dialga singing a timeless descending ballad to his own pleasure. The world was reduced to them just two, like a Palkia trying to claim to itself the titanic feeling of happiness to his own dimension. There was no time and no space. Just two boys, as innocent as a Jirachi and as pure as a Shaymin, in _love_ and their souls _united as one_. It wasn’t necessary to be a Riolu or a Lucario to acknowledge this.

It was all pretty and moving to my eyes and tiny-sized heart but my reaction the moment I saw this happening was dropping my jaw out of amazement.

“ _P-Pikachu?!_ They’re _boyfriends!!!!_ ”, I exclaimed to him.

“You’ve only noticed it now?” a voice spoke to me as it got clearer on my left side.

“Raboot?! You can talk!!!”, I confronted him.

“I only talk whenever I think it's necessary.”, he responded.

“I thought you only didn’t talk because a Torracat had bitten your tongue.”

“The two are together, more than friends.”, explained Pikachu. “It happens for a few months already. Ash’s heart got captured. It makes me happy seeing Ash loving a human the same way he does loves Pokémon.” 

“Goh’s heart was equally conquered as well. I’m also satisfied to know that Goh shares the same feeling for Ash as he does every time he captures Pokémon or researches about them.”, noted Raboot. “Even Riolu noticed this at birth and commented with us a few days later that the human children had an extremely powerful bond. Their souls were as synchronized as a delicate choreography performed by a dancing Oricorio. It would be difficult to tear it apart.”

Who wondered? _Three_ surprises at the same night. First, we went to an expensive buffet, then Ash and Goh kiss right on the lips and then there was Raboot talking for the first time ever since I met everyone?! _Good Arceus_ , what a time to be alive!

But what was happening was truly marvellous. I knew deep inside there was something else about those two youngsters when I met them in the streets of Vermilion. The kiss lasted long, for several seconds. They opened their eyes when it finished and both instantly released a loud laughter as their foreheads touched and had their hands on each other’s faces or arms and waists. Their happiness was extremely genuine, beautiful to look at. So beautiful that I felt a knot in my throat. I almost cried. They started to talk again.

“I’m the luckiest person in the world… to have a partner like _you_ …”, let out Goh followed after a small sob.

Ash picked up in Goh by his waist and stretched his arms as he spined around and laughed out loud, still with tears on his eyes:

“Wrong again! _I’m_ the luckiest person in the world to have chosen you!!”

“What are you saying?! You’re so silly!!” yelled out loud a Goh that couldn’t stop laughing by his boyfriend’s attitude of applying centrifugate force with his body.

 _That’s it._ It was a cuteness overload and I couldn’t hold anymore so I grabbed the closest thing I could to blow up my tiny nose. It was Raboot’s fur, who gave out a loud sigh and pat my head. The rabbit looked a bit awkwardly to Pikachu because of my action, Pikachu just giggled and winked at him. The electric mouse had also approached me to give a hug. Both stared again to the boys having their moment of romance.

We all eventually returned to the hotel after catching that boat of 23:00h. It was midnight when we all tucked to bed. The boys were looking to each other in silence, with Goh doing a gentle poke on Ash’s nose who reacted back by rubbing his hand over his boyfriend’s hair. They were acting much different when compared with the first hours I had met them. It was really sweet. They weren’t exchanging a word but was it necessary? Their eyes were telling everything. They loved each other with all their might. The two could stare like that for hours.

* * *

The magic had continued the whole night long. I knew this because of what I heard in the next morning after Rotom Phone’s alarm breaking the peaceful silence in the common room. Ash was cuddling like a spoon on Goh who was extremely sleepy and making an effort to move his arm to shut off the sound. He then mumbled:

“ _Ash… It's nine o’clock…_ ”

“ _Five minutes more…_ ”, the lightning-cheeked boy replied in between snores, without moving a finger.

“ _You’re making it harder to get up…_ ”, commented Goh who placed his arms over Ash’s. He tenderly added:

“ _Your arms are so warm…_ ”

“ _Your body as well… And extremely huggable…_ ”

Goh smiled with his eyes still closed. He kissed one of Ash’s arms.

“ _You kept kissing my face last night… how could I fall asleep right away with you doing that… You were so cute._ ”, noted Pikachu’s Trainer.

“ _I couldn’t help it. But you’re also adorable when you chuckle every time I do it. Your cuddles and kisses were not helping in my goal to sleep right away._ ”

“ _At which hour we fell asleep?_ ”

“ _You fell asleep first. The watch was pointing out it was almost four of the morning. I must have fallen asleep right after, I can’t remember._ ”

Oh boy, they really had fun last night with all that cuddling and facial kissing. I think I remember listening them saying cute stuff to each other too. Poor kids, they would be tired in this day given the fact they slept few hours.

“Five minutes have already passed. Get up.”, asked Goh still on the same pose but already with his opened eyes and holding the phone, beaming a faint white light on both their faces.

“ _Nooo…_ ”, said a drowsy Ash who hid his face even more behind his boyfriend’s nape.

Goh smirked and started to search for something on his phone. He then said:

“ _Very well._ If you don’t want to get up we’ll have to do this in the _hard way…_ ”

He tapped something with his thumb, closed his eyes and lifted the device way up with his all stretched left arm as he made a very sneaky smile. Few seconds later, an [extremely loud military music with trumpets](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u-Pp7IMebA) started to echo the entire room. _GOOD ARCEUS_ , THE SCAREJUMP WE ALL HAD WITH THIS ARMY MUSIC PLAYED IN HOENN!!! I gave an eye-blinking spring to the bedroom’s ceiling lamp as I meowed loudly, I wasn’t seeing it coming!!! Pikachu fell out of the bed because of a badly balanced jump as he tried to cover his ears with his tiny paws. Raboot also fell off the bed and was looking everywhere nervously with his feet slightly heated up in fire, ready to kick out any intruder. Last but, but not least, Ash looked like a Liepard hanging up its claws on a tree trunk, except the boy was hanging up on an aluminum board above the head of the bed and he was shaking like crazy.

I didn’t like the rough way we were forced to get up but someone that disliked it even more was Raboot who, after realizing the source of the noise, he jumped fiercely to Goh and gave a good kick to his Trainer’s rear. Goh was already out of the bed too thanks to that. We were all even now!

Thirty minutes later, we were all having breakfast in the hotel’s dedicated longue. There were few other guests eating along and chatting. The attentions were turned to the television hung up in one of the walls that was broadcasting the regional news. Something serious seemed to be going on in the island where we were. We could hear the following:

_“We have been receiving reports from One Island locals that last night the fires of the peak of Mt. Ember have stopped to occur. This famous volcano, located in the Sevii Islands archipelago, is believed to be dormant. However, a scientific study points for the high possibility there’s actually a mysterious Pokémon causing the blazing phenomenon every night with varied intervals between the fires.”_

Ash’s eyes opened up wide and the boy shook the shoulder of his boyfriend to call up his attention.

“Goh, Goh!”

“What?”

“Look to the TV! Are you listening to the news?!”

The lad looked intrigued to the television, that continued to describe the occurrence.

_“This nocturn spectacle is a touristic attraction that can be observed every evening from distance. Nobody managed to proof the theory up to this date. The truth is, that for the first time in thirty-nine years, the fire does not occur in Mt. Ember. We will continue to update the news the more information we manage to collect about this incidence.”_

“Have you heard it?!”

“I did, Ash. Something is definitely going on if it suddenly stopped.”

Ash had immediately gotten up out of his chair with a very serious facial expression.

“We need to go there.”

“What?!”

“We _need_ to go to Mt. Ember! Something’s not right; I can feel it!”

“A-Are you mad, Ash?!”, said an anxious Goh who also got up while placing both hands on the table surface.

“They said it’s _very likely_ to be living a _Pokémon_ in there. A fire-type for sure knowing it could be the origin of those night flames!”

“But, Ash! Nobody knows if it’s true!”

“That’s because _nobody_ _went_ there! If the volcano is dormant it _must_ be a Pokémon! It could be ill or _suffering_!! I _can’t_ stay still thinking in that possibility!! We HAVE to go there!”

I was shocked, it was the first time I saw the cap-wearing lad looking so serious. The one that is normally all ultra-optimistic and happy. He was really worried about the hypothesis of existing a Pokémon that needed some help. And Goh could also tell that just by looking to his eyes. The blue-eyed boy frowned and said assertively:

“ _We’re going_ to Mt. Ember and _investigate_.”

“We need to hurry up!”

Off we went to the northern area of the island, crossing a path named Kindle Road. The more we approached the mountain, more energy I felt inside me. I reached to a point where I was running in front of the children, with Raboot standing by my side.

“Are you feeling the same as I do, Raboot?!”

“There’s some mysterious energy in this place.”, the rabbit responded.

“What are you two talking about?!”, asked a panting Pikachu that was running behind us.

“Something is coming from Mt. Ember!”, we replied in unison.

“I can’t really see what is it! How can you guys manage to run so much without panting a bit?!?!”

“Beats me! I guess we’ll find out!”, I said to Pikachu.

We arrived to the entrance of Mt. Ember in no time. We all stopped for a bit to recover some of our breath, at least for Goh and Pikachu. The charcoal-coloured hair boy took out his phone and did a quick research.

“Mt. Ember. It has got some hot springs in the proximities. And that’s thanks to the tunnels that are rich in geothermic energy.”

“It doesn’t surprise me anymore why you two aren’t even sweating!” Pikachu commented. “This can give you some advantage to explore the volcano.”

“I’m ready to do whatever it’s necessary.”, nodded Raboot in assertiveness.

“Me too! Let’s go to the source of the problem.”, I responded.

I had lost the count of the time we spent walking in between those warm tunnels and climbing the steamy rocks with a faint smell of Sulphur. One hour would be a too modest time calculation. Minimum two for sure. I also realized we were being watched. Some hanging Geodude and Graveler on the higher levels of wavy rocky walls were very indiscrete. And we weren’t the only fire-type Pokémon around. I could observe a curious Magmar and a group of Ponyta and Rapidash from afar. We came across a clan of Machoke and Machop that were nearby and got alarmed by our presence, starting to throw rocks towards us.

“ _Intruders!!_ Stay away from us!!”, yelled the Machop.

Raboot defended everyone by using a good kick on each of the flying minerals.

“Keep it cool!!”, yelled Raboot.

“Thank you, Raboot!!”, thanked Goh that had retreated a few steps because of Machop’s attack.

“Machop, Machoke!! You need to let us pass!!”, shouted Ash.

“We aren’t here to cause any harm!!”, added Pikachu.

“How can you guarantee me you aren’t going to capture all of us?!”, asked the Fighting-type Pokémon who were growing impatient. “This is not a place for humans to be!!”

“If they don’t let us pass, we’ll have to battle them!”, noted Ash who was going to stay closer to Pikachu to instruct a battle move but he was ultimately prevented by Goh holding tight his hand.

“No, Ash! Don’t do it!! You’re going to make them more furious if you attack them!”

Ash didn’t know what to reply but realized his boyfriend had a good point.

“Our Pokémon seem to be talking to them. Maybe they’ll call their reasoning.”, added the sweatshirt lad.

“Listen all of you! We’re investigating about the vanishing of a mysterious fire source that is said that it was coming from the peak of this mountain! We want to know what’s going on!!” I asked to the defensive group of Machop and Machoke.

“Is there a Pokémon living in here or not?! Do tell us!”, added Raboot.

“We can’t allow _more_ humans to pass here…”, commented an irritated Machoke.

“ _More_ humans? Are you telling us that more people passed here before?!”, asked Pikachu alerted by that information.

“Last night a group of two adult humans appeared in some weird floating transportation vehicle. They were accompanied by a Meowth and a Wobbuffet.”, informed one of the Machoke.

“We didn’t pay much attention to that because there are other Meowth and Wobbuffet living in the islands, so we thought they were locals.”, noted one of the Machop.

“But we were wrong. They weren’t from this archipelago… _And captured our guardian._ ”, commented other Machop.

We were shocked hearing all of that, but Pikachu seemed to be really upset.

“A _non-local Meowth_ and a _Wobbuffet_?! _Could it be?!?!_ ”, mumbled Pikachu in anger with his cheeks releasing some aggressive sparks of electricity.

Raboot seemed to be suspecting about something as well, and shouted out loud to the group of Superpower Pokémon:

“ _That group_ must have been looking for your guardian!! _Tell us!!_ WHO LIVES IN HERE?!”

They looked to each other in nervousness, yet clueless of what to do. Then one of the Machoke dropped to the side the stone he was holding and approached us.

“ _Moltres._ ”

“Moltres?! Are you talking about that Mythical fire bird Pokémon?!?!”, I asked in surprise. The Pokémon nodded affirmatively, and continued to talk:

“Moltres lives here for several generations. He looks over all of us in this volcano. Since these strangers appeared last evening, we heard his cries. He asked for our help. But we couldn’t enter inside the peak. They blocked the entrance with a very sturdy metal wall.”

“Have you tried to smash it?!”, asked Pikachu.

“No avail. Even the strongest Machoke of our group couldn’t take it down. Nothing seems to break it apart.”

“We’ve got to do something!”, I commented.

“Please allow us to help out! The children are of trust, they really want to!”, requested Pikachu once again, begging for their comprehension.

The Machop and Machoke looked to each other, now more convinced that we were here for the good. They all nodded and the same Machoke turned to us again.

“Alright, we believe in you.”

Ash and Goh looked in surprise to the Superpower Pokémon dropping out the stones they were carrying, one after other. They all moved away to give passage to the children.

“They did it!...”, Ash said.

“Excellent!”, exclaimed Goh.

“I wonder what they were all talking about.”

“Seeing our Pokémon’s behaviour, I believe they now know much more than both of us.”

“Hey, Goh! Look over there! There’s something blocking that tunnel entrance.”

Ash was pointing to the metal surface that Machoke had warned us about minutes earlier. The boy ran towards it and tried to push, without any success.

“ _It’s very hard!!_ ”, panted out Ash. “I think it is metal. It doesn’t seem to be rock.”

Goh also attempted to push the shiny surface but just like his boyfriend there was no result.

“Let’s try together?”

“It could work!”

They repeated the action but the wall kept on the very same place. The two boys were tired.

“ _It’s no use!_ Who put this in here?!”, commented Goh.

The earlier Machoke approached us from behind and asked us to keep up some distance. The children realized that through his body language. The Superpower Pokémon used a Bulk Up move to increase his strength. Then, he ran to the wall and applied a Dynamic Punch right on the center. Unfortunately, nothing happened to the surface except for making Machoke sweating a lot. _Man,_ these Pokémon are already crazy strong. If a Dynamic Punch did nothing, then neither a Double Kick of mine nor Raboot’s would even make a scratch! A Machop tried to pick up a large boulder in the proximities and applied Strength. Very same result. Nothing seemed to be working.

Ash suddenly let out a gasp after thinking in something.

“I’ve got an idea!”

“Do you have a plan?”

“So far all the Pokémon used Physical moves to try to take down the blockage. What about we try Special moves?! We have Litten and Raboot who can both use Special Fire moves! If the wall is made of metal, it could melt and allow us to pass!”

“That’s a brilliant idea, Ash!! Totally worth a try!”, replied Goh enthusiastic about Ash’s idea.

“I didn’t think about it!”, said Pikachu to us. “Raboot, Litten! You could do some teamwork!”

We looked to each other and nodded in agreement. It could work out.

“You‘ve got a powerful Flamethrower, Litten. It could be quite handy for this task.”, observed Raboot.

“And your Ember isn’t either behind, Raboot!”, I responded back.

“Litten, is it ok I instruct you?”, asked Ash to me. I said yes with my head as I positioned myself.

“Awesome!”, the boy interjected.

“Raboot, are you ready to help out Litten?”, asked Goh to his Pokémon who lifted a bit his paw as he stood side to me. “Great, we’re all set!”

“Litten, use Flamethrower right on the centre of the wall!”

“Raboot, use Ember on the exact same spot!”

And we obeyed to the commands of the two Trainers. I used all my energy to expel a burning strong Flamethrower. Raboot did the same by kicking all the nearby rocks he had on his reach, helped out by the nearby Machop and Machoke. We all worked together as a team. Pikachu cheered on us from afar. In no time, the wall was turning red and eventually melting down. The passage was clear for everyone to go through. The group of Machop and Machoke were partying the success.

“Well done, guys! You did it!!”, cheered on Pikachu to us.

“That was a good teamwork, Raboot!”, I showed my paw to Raboot. The fire roedent smiled and said:

“You stole my words.”

And we gave a high five, just like the boyfriends behind us.

“It worked!!”

“That was really well thought, Ash! This is the proof that you’re the Alolan Champion for a reason!”

Ash blushed after listening to that compliment and begun to scratch his face.

“It was nothing, really! Now… Let’s go inside and see what’s happening!”

“Right after you!”

They entered the tunnel. Before we did, we turned to the Machoke and Machop and waved to them.

“Thank you so much for your help and comprehension!”, shouted Pikachu.

“Don’t mention it!! Please help us by saving Moltres!”

“We’ll succeed!”, shouted Raboot.

And we went after the children. It took no time to reach the peak of the volcano. Surprisingly, the area was quite open and empty. Nothing seemed to be going on, until a cry for help had broken the silence.

“Did you hear that?!”, asked Ash in agitation.

“I did!! It’s _definitely_ a Pokémon making that sound!”

“It was coming from over there!”

They followed the source of the sound. Soon, we found the Moltres. He was being held captive in a strange luminous cubic cage, a technology I thought it was only seen in science fiction movies. The bird was tired and occasionally moving inside. What was horrible to observe was that this cage was connected to a water pump that was spraying water every time the legendary bird tried to tackle the walls of the cage.

“Keep quiet, _flaming nugget!_ Or else you’ll take other _shower!!_ ”, yelled a talking Meowth to my own shock.

“Better he doesn’t reattempt a bath. Nobody wants a severely ill Moltres.”, commented the purple-haired adult man as he was tweaking on a nearby machine.

“That’s right!!”, I heard Wobbuffet saying.

“James, how many hours are you trying to fix the hot-hair balloon mechanism?”, asked the long-haired woman with the hands on her hips.

“ _Sixteen._ ”, he hastily responded.

“Couldn’t you be a _little_ quicker? I’m _fed up_ of staying _here_.”, the woman pouted.

“Well _excuse me_ , _Miss Bossy That Doesn’t Want to Break Her Nails_! A bit of _proactivity of yours_ wouldn’t harm!!”, responded James back in exaltation.

“But _I’m not_ the engineer here.”

“ _Do you think I am one as well?!_ Jessie, have you _seen_ the _size_ of the troubleshooting _manual?!?!_ ”

James picked up a manual of the size of a Charjabug and dropped it to the front of Jessie, who stood silent.

“Not every manual is like those Scandinavian ones where you assemble a furniture before an Impidimp can blink out an eye!!”

Jessie let out a sigh and commented:

“This wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t lost your powerbank at the beach to charge up our phones and call for technical help with our balloon.”

“Jessie has got a point, James! It’s your fault!”, added Meowth.

“Yup, yup, yup!”, affirmed Wobbuffet.

James was upset, but kept continuing to repair the mechanism. He spoke out loud:

“I also can’t understand why you left the chargers in the headquarters before we left.”

“Wasn’t that Jessie’s task?”, questioned the talking feline.

“ _Why the balloon had to stop working last night?... What a headache…_ ”, commented Jessie as she had turned her back and placed the palm on her forehead. A way to try to avoid responding to the question.

“ _I’m surrounded by idiots…_ ”, I heard Meowth commenting low.

We all heard to that conversation going on afar. Who the heck were those dudes? Raboot and Pikachu seemed to know by the way they glared and mumbled the words “Team Rocket”. Ash was trembling out of rage.

“ _Always_ them!! _Always them_!!!”

“Who are they imprisoning?!”, asked a disturbed Goh as he pointed out the Rotom Phone to the cage. The device started to describe in low volume:

_“Moltres! The Flame Pokémon! Fire and Flying-type! One of the legendary bird Pokémon. It is said that its appearance indicates the coming of spring!”_

“No way!! The Legendary bird Pokémon Moltres lives here?! _Oh no…!_ ”

“ _I must free him!!_ ”

Ash sprinted out of our hiding spot and Pikachu went after him, calling for his Trainer’s name.

“ _Move_ your fingers, _James!_ Our _promotion_ is waiting for us in the boss’ office!”, said an impatient Jessie.

“I’m TRYING since HOURS!!” I’m getting tired and stressed for having to do all by myself!! If you want it to be faster wish that a flock of Drifblim appear to carry us all and the Moltres cage back to the headquarters!!”

“ _Well, I would say it‘s more likely that Meowth will evolve to a Persian than a miracle like that happening._ ”

“DON’T CALL ME OUT!!!”, screamed the talking Pokémon.

“STOP RIGHT THERE!!”, yelled Ash along with his Pikachu already exhibiting his electrifying and threatening red cheeks. We all stood side to him, requesting the same thing.

“ _What?!_ The twerps are here?!?! _How did they know?!_ ” yelped James in shock as he dropped a wrench.

“ _Who cares!_ We’ve got a problem to solve!!”, interjected Jessie as she frowned.

This is when things started to be wacky. The two adults started to move and talk dramatically like if they were in a theatrical play. [There was a music being played in a portable speaker that Wobbuffet had prepared in a corner while he was doing a stupid smile.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eaVZKqjkSQ) Then in-between a choreographed dancing and acrobatic moves, they proclaimed the following words:

“ _Prepare for trouble!_

_And make it double!_

_To protect the world from devastation!_

_To unite all people within our nation!_

_To denounce the evils of truth and love!_

_To extend our reach to the stars above!_

_Jessie!_

_And James!_

_Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!_

_Surrender now or prepare to fight!_

_Meowth! That’s Right!_

_Thaaaaat’s right!!_ ”

The moment I heard this I started to snort and my laughter echoed the whole peak. Everyone looked to me awkwardly but even more Team Rocket, who got very offended. Meowth was the one talking to me:

“Hey! _Heeey!!! What’s wrong with you?!_ This is our _threatening and fierce motto!!_ Have _respect_ , it gave us a lot of work to do this right!!”

And I responded to Meowth in between laughter:

_“Seriously?! Dudes, I’ve seen better choreographies, acrobatics and costumes in Cirque du Solrock!! HAA!!”_

The Scratch Cat Pokémon’s face had swollen into red colour, trembling in fury.

“What did you say?! HOW RUDE OF YOU!!!”

“ _Uh,_ Meowth?...”, asked James.

Jessie bent her back more down to reach Meowth better and also questioned him:

“ _What did that Litten say?_ ”

“It doesn’t matter! That _sassy_ lady is gonna eat her own words!! JAMES!! CALL FOR REINFORCEMENTS!!!”

 _“How can I call if we do not have any co_ -“

His speech was cut after an odd dispensing contraption having fallen out of nowhere. I think I saw a shadow of a Pelipper?! Whatever it was! [Wobbuffet played other song on the speaker](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW1altLpyPQ). The weirdos put Meowth’s forehead coin on the machine and it dispensed two Poké Balls: one contained a Rampardos and a Rhyperior in other one.

“ _Niiiice!_ The boss was generous with the Pokémon, today!” exclaimed Jessie as she checked a paper.

“They have good moves too. Let’s wrap up these twerps! Rhyperior, use Rock Blast!!”, instructed James.

“Rampardos, use Take Down!!”

The two opponent Pokémon obeyed to the instructions. Ash didn’t lose time to react.

“Pikachu, avoid Rampardos and counter with an Iron Tail!!”

“Raboot, use Double Kick in the rocks!”, said Goh to Raboot who executed well the defensive strategy. Pikachu had already jumped sideways to not get hit by the Rampardos and slammed a good Iron Tail right on the pre-historic Pokémon’s back.

I didn’t want to just watch so I took the opportunity to reach out Moltres and talk to him.

“Moltres! We’re here to help you!”

The legendary bird opened his eyes, looked to the side and alerted me for the following:

“There’s a button over there that shuts down the power of this machine. If you reach it I’ll be freed.”

“The button over there? I’ll reach it!”

It would have been so easy to do it if it wasn’t for Meowth and Wobbuffet cornering me.

“Where do you think you’re going, _stripes?!_ ”

“Cornered Litten!”

“That’s not your business, guys!!”

“Do you think I‘ve born _yesterday_? I know what you’re up to! _You shall not pass!!_ ”

The talking Meowth showed his sharp claws to use a Fury Swipes move, but it was quite easy to avoid.

“Is that all you’ve got? I’ve met a Caterpie back in Alola that could use Electroweb and it was younger than you!”

“You’re quite shameless for a Litten!! _Have some manners!_ ”

“Here’s a little kiss!!” I responded before spitting out a Flamethrower towards Meowth. Unfortunately, it didn't hit him because Wobbuffet shielded up by using a Mirror Coat. The fire went back to me in greater power and I fell to the floor.

“I’m owning you one, Wobbuffet!”

“Wobbuffet 1! Litten 0!”, babbled the blue Pokémon.

Two against one, no fair!! I would _have_ to think in something. Double Kick wouldn’t be good in a Pokémon like this so I had to use other resources. I used Swagger on Wobbuffet. The Pokémon got confused and this could make it difficult to focus in using the right moves.

“ _Noo!_ Wobbuffet! Come back to your senses!!”, shouted Meowth as he shaked his battling partner.

“Too bad! You lost your backup! HEADBUTT!”

I hit right on Wobbuffet’s head and the Patient Pokémon flinched after the hit. I repeated the move and it took him down. He had no more strength to keep it up.

 _“Geeez_ , you’re a tough cat, I’ve got to tell ya! But I‘m not afraid of you! _Let’s battle!_ ”

“More action and less talk, Meowth! You’re an expert in talking!”

In the meantime, the children were working together as a team to take down Team Rocket’s tough-looking Pokémon. It was a fierce combat. Both kids had some type disadvantage because of the Rock-types plus the Ground-type of Rhyperior. Pikachu couldn’t do much except using Iron Tail for the latter. Raboot could also only rely in Double Kicks for successful results in both the opponent Pokémon.

“This is getting difficult!! I’m out of plans!!”, yelled Goh.

“Difficult but not impossible!! We can do this!”, responded Ash full of determination. He then noticed that Meowth and I were battling nearby the switch I was instructed by Moltres to press down. It was hard to not notice how important it was given its size and the flashing green light in the centre. So Ash thought in something crazy.

“Pikachu! Keep Rhyperior busy and help Raboot!”, instructed the cap-wearing boy before starting to run towards the green-lighted button.

“Ash?!”, shouted Goh.

Team Rocket had turned their backs to see what the kid was going to do and managed to predict it.

“ _Oh no, you don’t!!_ ”, shouted Jessie.

“That twerp really doesn’t give up, doesn’t he?”, added James. “Rhyperior! Use Fire Punch on him!”

An affliction shout came out from Goh’s side. Rhyperior was heating up his massive arm to activate a Fire Punch. Ash was the target for both the colossal Pokémon and everyone’s attention. I started to scream a loud and nervous “ _Watch out, Ash!! Behind you!!!_ ” to the racing lad in hopes that he would understand my warning. Even Pikachu shouted to his Trainer’s attention requesting the same thing. Ash seemed to have gotten the message and looked behind but it was extremely difficult to dodge at that point he faced the eyes of the attacking Drill Pokémon. Even if I raced or used a move it wouldn’t be in time to defend the brown-coloured eyes youngster!! And right before Rhyperior releasing his powerful blow, Goh appeared right on front of his loved one and placed his bent arm forward to protect Ash and take the Fire Punch hit himself!! A scream of pain echoed the entire peak and everything around stopped. Ash, I, Raboot and Pikachu were shouting of shock.

That was a _very_ strong hit. His afflicted limb _even_ let out _steam_. It was red and wounded with a nasty burn. Goh opened eyes for a brief moment and looked to Rhyperior with determination before he started to sway and fall, losing his conscience.

“GOOOOH!!!”, screamed Ash in despair and raced side to Goh, lifting his body a little and shaking him desperately to look for signals of conscience. “GOH?! GOH?!?!? WAKE UP! PLEASE WAKE UP!!”

“YOU COWARDS!!”, shouted Pikachu extremely upset and with his cheeks sparking a lot of electricity.

Raboot was trembling. He was equally mad. He cried out loud a characteristic noise of his species as he gave out a powerful Double Kick to Rhyperior’s face so strong that his body hit Rhyperior and both slided towards the closest stony wall. That was a _critical_ and _super-effective hit!_

“Rhyperior!!”, yelled James.

“Rampardos!!”, shouted Jessie.

“You two need to get up fast! This is not over y-!!”

I cut Meowth’s speech because I was quite bothered by the lack of sensitiveness in him and everyone else from the Team Rocket crew. I yelled:

“LOOK AT WHAT YOU AND YOUR HUMANS HAVE DONE!! THAT WAS SO LOW! YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT!”

“ _Whoa_ , hang on!! It was James’ idea! Don’t aim the faults to me!!”, denied Meowth visibly nervous as he shook his arms in negation.

He had a point, so I inhaled hard and started to chase the human adults with my Flamethrower. The two yelped and started to run away like crazy people.

“MEOWTH, DO SOMETHING!!”, yelled Jessie.

“THIS CAT IS COMPLETELY NUTS!!”, screamed James.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?! I ONLY KNOW FURY SWIPES!! RHYPERIOR, RAMPARDOS! MOVE YOUR HEAVY REARS HERE!”

The blue-coated boy had gotten up and started to talk with a heavy voice. The offensive Pokémon were already nearby.

“ _How could you…_ HOOOW COOOULD YOOOOU?!?!?”

Team Rocket stopped and looked to the lad. Even Wobbuffet who had only recovered his conscience at this moment. Ash was _extremely_ furious. It was a really, _really_ scary sight! His eyes trembled as well. I feared that the group of weird people had awaken a side of Ash that nobody would wish to witness: A _merciless_ Ash.

“PIKACHU! USE IRON TAIL IN RHYPERIOR’S RIGHT HIP!”

“GOT IT!”, I heard Pikachu replying and vigorously executing the move. It was other critical and super-effective move, enough to make Rhyperior faint. Rampardos became quite nervous after seeing his partner without any more will to battle. He retreated to go behind Team Rocket.

“WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU?!”, scolded Jessie to the Pokémon. “I ORDER YOU TO RETURN TO THE FRONTLINE! DON’T TELL ME YOU’RE SCARED OF THAT MOUSE!!”

“I WASN’T TRAINED FOR SUCH AN AGGRESSIVE TINY POKÉMON!”, I could listen Rampardos babbling in anxiety.

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!”, interjected Meowth out loud.

“You guys are leaving _immediately!!_ Pikachu USE THUNDERBOLT!!!”

“HAVE A GOOD JOURNEEEEEEEEEEEEY!”, shouted Pikachu out of his lungs as he unleashed a blinding strong electrical shock to the entire group of Team Rocket. The move was so powerful that it brought static to the machine, making it work weirdly. The cage was beginning to glitch, calling up Moltres’ attention. Shortly after, there was an explosion on Team Rocket’s side, projecting that group away from the volcano’s peak as they screamed something like “Team Rocket’s blasting off again!!”. I shouted out a “Well deserved! Goodbye, _idiots!!_ ”.

Now we could save Moltres from that horrible machine. Ash rushed to the button and pressed it down. The cage disintegrated and the Mythical Pokémon could flap his wings again. Every time he did that, the entire peak was glowing into a blinding orange colour. “Thank you for saving me.” he said. Ash was satisfied to see that Moltres was fine. He returned to Goh right after, who still hadn’t wakened up. His boyfriend was clueless in what to do. Some tears escaped from his face. “ _Why you did that?!_ ”, he whimpered.

The fire bird approached us. While trapped, Moltres saw everything that happened earlier. He had a partial solution.

“He’s still alive, but his wounds are big. The boy should get his pains relieved if he bathes in the hot springs. I can take everyone there. It should be easier to return to the urban area in safety after and call for help.”

This was a quite valuable information. Pikachu tried to call his Trainer’s attention by pulling the coat and pointing to Moltres showing his scaled legs.

“Y-You want us to climb?”, Ash asked. The bird nodded. Understanding that the Pokémon wanted to help everyone out, Ash picked Goh with one arm, positioning him against his side and with the other one he grabbed one of Moltres’ legs. We did the same for the other one. The giant bird lifted off and flew graciously towards the hot springs. We could see the group of Superpower Pokémon that helped us earlier from above. They realized that Moltres was freed again and they were shouting a warming “Thank you!” to all of us. We waved back with a smile on our faces. Ash didn’t pay attention. He always tried to keep an eye on his fainted boyfriend.

The hot springs where we got taken to were more remote than the ones explored by the humans. Upon landing, Moltres made a signal with his head to encourage Ash to submerge Goh on one of the springs. That’s what he ended doing. A few moments later, the blue-eyed boy had recovered conscience. He was weak and looked to everyone in confusion. He then asked:

“ _Where am I?..._ ”

“Goh!! You’re fine!!!”, emotionally said Ash as he hugged Goh’s upper arms tightly. He was teary.

“W-What happened? I can’t remember mu- _Oww!_ ”

Goh tried to move his left arm but he immediately retracted it back.

“What’s wrong with my arm?...”

“You blocked a Fire Punch from Team Rocket’s Rhyperior a while ago! We got extremely worried because you fainted after taking the hit!! Why you did that?! It could have gone _really wrong_ , Goh!!”

The sweatshirt lad was now reminding what happened. He then smiled peacefully and replied to Ash’s question in a soft and tender tone:

“You keep protecting me all the time. Remember what you told me two days ago? You wanted to be my _sword_ , right? Because I was your _shield_? That’s the answer, Ash. I wanted to be your _shield_. Because you’re my _sword_.”

Ash had gotten himself lost for words for the sweet response of his boyfriend, in a way he blushed hard and his eyes were glowing due to the tears. He reacted with a sweet kiss in the lips and touching his forehead on Goh’s. He then softly said:

“Thank you, Goh… But please be more considerate on your actions next time.”

“Look who’s talking.”, giggled out his boyfriend.

Moltres saw that everything was well and there was nothing else to do. He had already retributed the favor of being rescued. It was time to return to his normal life. So, he spread his wings and flew away to the horizon.

“Thank you, Moltres!! Be careful next time!!”, waved Ash to the leaving Legendary bird. Goh waved with his healthy arm at the same time. Then Ash’s face changed, he had just reminded about something and alerted Goh:

“Goh, we didn’t take any footage about Moltres living here!”

“It was for the best.”

“Huh? What do you mean, “ _it was for the best_ ”?”

“If we tell everyone that a Moltres lives in Mt. Ember, it could be later a problem for the Pokémon . Tourists would start to flock to the peak just to see this Pokémon, or even to try to capture it. The wild Pokémon we saw during the climbing are probably guarded by it. Better to keep this as a secret between us two. We can’t even tell to Professor Cerise and the others what happened this morning.”

Ash understood Goh’s point. It was for the best to keep this as a mystery to public knowledge. Though, it was an awesome experience to meet and fly in a legendary bird Pokémon!

“Then… how am I going to explain what happened to your arm?”

“Let’s pretend it was during a morning exploration in the cliffs of Mt. Ember. Half-lie, half-true.”, he winked to his boyfriend.

“We’ve got a deal then. Hang on!”

Ash removed his blue coat and cautiously lifted Goh’s left arm, who complained a little of pain. Ash had improved his coat as a fabric support to let his loved one’s limb immobilized and more protected from direct contact.

“It should do before we can call a doctor tonight once we’re back to Professor Cerise’s laboratory.”

“If one’s good to improvise solutions, that’s you!”, Goh smiled.

“Can you get up?”

Goh got out of the water spring on his own, with apparent ease.

“I can.”

“Good, better we head back to the hotel. We’ve got to return to Kanto.”

“I can’t wait to show everything we found during yesterday’s researches!”

* * *

We did the hotel check-out afew hours later, headed to the Seagallop Ferry Boat dock and departure on our way to return to Vermilion City. Our adventure at Sevii Islands had come to an end. It was a rollercoaster ride, but I had lots of fun. It really reminded me the happy times I had with my Trainer during the Alolan Trials. We had collected all the elemental type Z-Crystals and finished the Island Challenge of the region. I wished I could talk the human language like that shady Meowth we’ve met at this present day, I would have _so much_ to tell at home. Pikachu and Raboot were napping on the way. The enamoured children also took the opportunity to sleep, with Goh laying his head on Ash’s shoulder. Ash had his right hand over Goh’s lap, covering the free hand. It was a tiring day for all of us, curiously even more than the researching one.

The sun was setting when the last passenger had left the Seagallop Ferry Boat. It was good to be back and feel again the typical smells of the waterfront restaurants that were getting ready for a higher movement and busy activity expected from a Friday night. But we were not dining outside today. It was all programmed to be in the Cerise Laboratory. I had never passed here before but it was good to know this location for future reference. Once we entered inside, Chloe went down stairs. “You’re back!”, she said. “How was the tr-“

She interrupted her sentence the moment she saw Ash’s coat wrapping up Goh’s arm. The girl gave a big grimace and interjected out loud:

“WHAT IN THE WORLD?!?!”

“Chloe, we can expl-“

Goh tried to calm his friend down, but she didn’t let him.

“Goh, WHAT HAPPENED with your arm?!”, she asked as she pointed to the wounded limb. She then turned to Ash and frowned. “Was it Ash?! _Did Ash make this to you?!_ Don’t tell me he asked you to do something stupid at the Sevii Islands!!”

“Chloe, Goh tried to protect me from a wild Pokémon at Mt. Ember!! If it wasn’t for him, I could have been in a worst state!”

She heard Ash’s sentence and her eyebrows lifted a little. The pigtailed lass turned to her friend, asking a question and hoping for an honest answer:

“Goh, is that true what he said?!”

“It is. Things could have gone very bad if I had done nothing.”, he responded normally.

“Whoa…”, said Chloe now calmer. “Still, you need to be seen by a doctor! My father is inside, he’ll know who to call! Come in!”

The boys nodded and followed her. We Pokémon did the same.

Everything was explained to Professor Cerise and the staff. Just like Chloe said, Goh had to be checked by a doctor. Her father called one by phone and he arrived in a short time. It was concluded that Goh had a hematoma and a superficial skin burn, thankfully all treatable. No bone fractures, impressively enough. The doctor had assured that in two weeks, the boy’s arm would be back to normal and he would be able to use it again. Once he left, dinner was prepared for the children. Professor Cerise thought it was better to leave the research report for the next day to allow the kids to settle down. They however briefly explained my situation and some of my collaborations during the stay in the archipelago. These bits of information helped to improve my relationship with Yamper who finally stopped to bark on me and accept me as a friend. It took a few hours… Chloe and the adults had already eaten earlier but the girl took the opportunity to keep company to the enamoured boys and have a tea.

“ _Two weeks_ without being able to capture Pokémon…”, sighed Goh in disappointment.

“You’ll survive, Goh.”, said Chloe as she finished to sip her tea while standing up with her back turned to her friends.

Ash has gently pet his boyfriend’s left shoulder as he giggled and told him:

“You need to relax once in a while.”

Goh let out a loud laughter and looked to Ash while saying:

“Should I believe in your advice? You’re already with your batteries charged!”

“What I mean is, it‘s good to have fun _once in a while_.”, he smiled as he sat down close to Goh.  
  
“I suppose.”, Goh responded back with a subtle smile.

“Better you start eating, or else the food will cool down.”, warned Chloe to the boys.

Goh let out a tiny whimper of sadness. Ash asked:

“What is it, Goh?”

“I… I _can’t_ eat on my own. If not being able to catch Pokémon wasn’t already _bad enough!!_ ”

Ash let out a small laugh and tried to tranquilize Goh by saying the following as he moved a pair of chopsticks on his hand:

“That’s no problem! As far as I’m around, I will feed you by giving the food to your mouth!”

“W-What?!”, yelped Goh with his face turning red out of embarrassment.

“You won’t starve for two weeks, Goh! That thought is unthinkable! If you want to get better fast you need to eat well! Now open your mouth!"

Goh’s facial expression frowned and moved to the side.  
  
“ _I don’t need help for that…_ ”

“Goh, it isn’t a secret anymore to anyone in the Laboratory that you and Ash are _together_. Since _months_. You can at least thank that your boyfriend is quite helpful. That’s his job.”, told Chloe without moving out her place or looking behind.

“Chloe is right! There’s no harm in helping you out! I don’t forget that you always kept an eye on me when I had a fever almost two months ago!”

Goh wasn’t saying anything. Poor lad, I already don’t know what he looked the most right now: a Tamato or a Razz Berry! It was a funny thing to look at while Pikachu, Raboot and I were eating.

“Open your mouth!”

“No.”

“Alright.”, accepted Ash as he was about to place an onigiri on his own mouth considering that Goh was refusing. The blue-eyed boy got startled and said:

“ _H-Hey!_ Hang on, A-“

That’s when Ash took the opportunity that Goh had his mouth wide open to give him the food. Ash giggled and told “I got you! Now, stay still and eat.”.

Goh blushed as he swallowed the onigiri. He kept eating each portion that Ash was handing over in silence.

“I would like to comment something to you, Ash.”, expressed Chloe in her usual neutral tone, now facing him from her spot.

“What is it, Chloe?”

“You’re making Goh a better person.”

“A better person?”, he asked in curiosity. Goh also looked to her after listening to her statement.

“I know Goh since we were small kids, as you’re already aware of. I always knew him as someone to be self-centred. He would only think in himself. If he put his physical integrity in risk to protect you, it means a lot. It’s an achievement. You gave quite an impact on Goh by unlocking his heart. Thank you for helping him to improve and become a better person.”

We all looked to her in amazement. Those were really nice words.

“Now if you excuse me, I need to go to bed. It was also a long day for me. Good night, boys. Don’t make noise with your laughter when you are cuddling on your dorm.”

And Chloe left with Yamper, who happily wished a good night by licking each of us including me. _Ew. Dog saliva… This would take seven minutes to clean…_

Ash and Goh were blushing into an extreme level. They were _busted_. Chloe knew that they were sometimes spending a portion of the night cuddling and kissing their faces and lips. And it wasn’t necessary to spy on them to learn about this. The lovebirds just weren’t discreet!

Soon, it was bed time. From what I could tell, Goh was supposed to sleep in the top bunk. But with his wounded arm it was impossible to climb the ladder in safety. Ash lifted his bed sheets and showed the mattress to his boyfriend and winked.

“We have a good excuse to share a bed for the next two weeks!”

Goh scratched his own face, with a faint red colour on his cheeks. He couldn’t deny the fact.

“ _So…_ I go first?”

“If someone needs to have the risk of falling off from the bed it’s me!”

“Alright, that’s fair…”

Goh entered in the bed first and Ash afterwards. He covered them both with the sheets and started to pet his boyfriend’s hair.

“Thank you once again for protecting me…”

“Don’t ever thank me.”, replied Goh with a tender smile.

Ash poked his head considering Goh was back turned. Once Goh faced the lightning-cheeks lad, Ash stole him a lip kiss. Goh blushed once again.

“Good night, Goh. Sleep well!”, said Ash as he closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Goh’s waist and placed his head behind his nape.

“G-Good night, Ash. _You too…_ ”, smiled Goh as he put himself more comfortable and enjoyed the warmth of Ash’s body. He ended up facing his body to Ash and retributed the hug with the healthy arm and tucking his head side to his partner while sighing. The energic boy fell asleep in no time alongside with Goh.

Another day had finished. A new one would start. I closed my eyes and slept for the remaining evening.

* * *

It was now since three days that I had started to travel with these inseparable ten-year old lads. We all had breakfast in the Laboratory’s meal room. The boys were telling their adventures in the Seven and Six Islands. The Professor was very interested in checking out the Unown at a later time, but for now he was observing the photographs and videos that the children had taken. Ash was very complimented for the Yanma swarm footage. Chloe asked twice if he was really sure it wasn’t actually Goh filming it. It upset Ash a little bit but everyone laughed. It was clear that the pigtailed girl was messing up with her blue-coated friend. The talk was then interrupted with Ash’s phone receiving a call.

“Someone’s calling me… I wonder what’s this number.”

“Pick it up, it could be important!”, said Goh.

“Hello? Yes, it is me. Correct. _Oh!_ Really?! Can’t she visit us at Cerise Laboratory? _Oh, alright._ It’s ok, we’re heading right there!”

Ash finished the call. Goh asked:

“Who was it?”

“It was Nurse Joy from the Pokémon Center. She said that Litten’s Trainer appeared and is looking for her.”

“Oh! Those are good news, Litten!”, exclaimed Goh, happy to know that I would soon return home.

However, I had mixed feelings about it. Pikachu and Raboot realized that.

“Is everything alright?”, asked Raboot.

“It is. Don’t worry.”, I assured and smiled. “It’s good to return home.”

Raboot looked to Pikachu, not one hundred percent convinced with the response. Chloe got up and pet me alongside with a smile.

“Your Trainer must have been worried about you! You’ll go back to your house. I can’t go with you but I hope you have a safe return. It was nice to meet you.”

I let out a soft smile to her. Yamper licked me and apologized for before:

“I’m sorry for having barked towards you in the camera, I just worry for Chloe’s safety. I like her a lot, you know!”

“I wasn’t even thinking about it anymore but thank you anyways!”

“I hope we see each other again!”

“Who knows!” I winked.

“Once we finish to eat, we’re going to the address left at the Pokémon Center. I have it in my phone.”, explained Ash.

“Can I see it?”, asked Goh. Ash showed the address and Goh placed it in the map application. “It’s actually not quite far from the Pokémon Center. We‘ll walk there in no time.”

“Awesome! Let’s hurry up and not making Litten’s Trainer wait longer!”

Fifteen minutes later, we were off from the laboratory towards my home. Everyone tried to interact with me but they were wondering why I wasn’t being as reactive as I was back in the Sevii Islands. Even Raboot was worried. The rabbit confronted me with the fact that I wasn’t telling something to them. And they weren’t _fully_ wrong. The boys found my house and my Trainer was waiting outside.

“Litten!! You’re back!!”, she exclaimed in relief.

And that’s where everyone understood why I never talked much about her or why I wasn’t traveling with her like I did back in Alola. The girl was on a wheelchair.

“Thank you _so much_ fo-… Hold on!! _Are you Ash Ketchum?!_ ”  
  
“Me? Yes, I am. How do you know?”

“Because I _recognize_ you from the Alolan Championship that broadcasted in the hospital in the days after my accident! You were so awesome!!”

“Wow, thank you!” smiled Ash as he scrubbed the back of his head. “I didn’t know I had a fan right here in Vermilion City!”

“Can I have an autograph?!”

“Oh, sure thing!”

Goh poked his elbow on Ash with a smirk stamped on the face and said:

“You’re getting famous around here!”

Ash was signing a paper that my Trainer had handed over and looked to Goh while smiling. She innocently asked:

“Who’s this boy?”

“His name is Goh, and he’s my boyfriend!”, responded Ash with great honesty. Goh turned red and interjected a shy “ _A-Ash!!_ You didn't need to tell _that_!”.

My long-haired Trainer laughed.

“You two are so cute together, did you know that?”

They stared to her in silence, blushing a lot. She continued to talk.

“You see, back in Alola I loved to battle and to travel with my Litten. We were actually good battlers! I completed the Island Challenge! We eventually moved to Vermilion City, but everything changed the day I was riding my bicycle and fell off a precipice. I was taken to the hospital and I couldn’t walk anymore. We had to stop traveling and I leave home almost exclusively for medical exams and to have surgeries.”

The boys didn’t know what to say. They realized that my Trainer had been passing through a lot.

“One of my last stays in the hospital, it was when the Alolan Championship was being broadcasted on TV and I _loved_ to watch you battle. You and your Torracat were _incredible_!! I loved it! I never expected to meet you in person! Your victories encouraged me to _never_ give up and believe in my _dreams_! And I believe I can _walk again_! Especially after this last surgery.”

One of the reasons I had absented this long was because I knew my Trainer was going to be in the hospital because of one surgery. She now returned and noticed I was away so she looked for me.

“What did the surgery do?”, asked Goh.

“Just watch!”

My Trainer did something I never expected to do. Something I wasn’t seeing for _months_! She _got up_ of the wheelchair, _alone_!! My eyes opened wide of amazement. And, even with a trembling body, she gave _four steps_ forward! I ran towards her and jumped to her lap after she fell back to the wheelchair. I was crying of joy. I thought she would _never_ walk again!! She hugged me back, also with tears in her eyes.

“ _Litten, I promise I’ll be better! And we’ll travel again!! We’ll battle again!!!_ _We’ll challenge the Kanto Gym Leaders together!_ ”

The lads and their Pokémon were also moved with what was going on. Ash wiped off the tears on his face and tightened his right hand with determination, exclaiming:

“It _will_ happen! I’m _sure_ it will! And when that day arrives, I would _love_ to battle _you and your Litten_!”

“ _R-Really?!_ ”, she gasped out of amazement.

“We took care of your Litten in the latest three days and I’ve got to tell you, you’ve got an amazing Pokémon. She’s intelligent and powerful. I would _love_ to capture a Litten like yours one day!”, said Goh to her.

“Fantastic, thank you so much for your compliments!”, she said with a joyful voice.

“I’m sorry but… You didn’t tell us what’s your name.”, observed Ash.

“Hope. My name’s Hope!”, she replied.

“Hope, once you’re better from your condition _don’t hesitate_ to look for me! I’ll gladly accept to battle you!”

She smiled and stretched her hand.  
  
“I promise, I will!”

Both shook their hands.

“We’re often in Cerise Laboratory, if you need to find us. Litten can also return there any time she wants!”

“Great news! Isn’t it, Litten?”, she asked me. I meowed back in affirmation.

“Well, I guess we need to say goodbye for now. Take care of yourself, Litten!”, told Ash to me. I jumped off for a moment to scrub my head on his leg. The boy laughed and petted me.

“Goodbye, Litten. I hope we’ll meet again someday.”, said Goh. He also has petted my head and I scrubbed it on his leg.

“It was a pleasure to meet you. Come back anytime!”, Pikachu said as he showed his tail for a final greeting. I did the same with mine.

“One day!”, I replied.

“Don’t make your Trainer worried again. She needs your company.”, alerted Raboot to me.

“I know that.”, I responded with a smile. “Thanks for your concern, Raboot.”

“Goodbye, Hope! And get better soon! I’ll be waiting for you to battle one day!”

“Goodbye, Ash and Goh! And thank you for taking care of Litten!!”

And the two children and their Pokémon left. They were returning to Cerise Laboratory. Once they were out of our visual reach, Hope and I looked to each other and smiled.

“Let’s return inside?”, she asked with her usual sweet grin. I nodded as a yes.

Home sweet home, I thought as I returned to Hope’s bedroom and jumped to her white desk that had a pair of red and black headphones resting over it. Those are Hope’s favourites. I enjoyed to put this audio device in between my cheeks since she bought them. Not for listening to music as they can’t reach my ears but just because I wanted to. Especially since the bicycle crash that Hope had. I knew that wearing the headphones on my head was making her laugh every time I did so. Once she returned to the bedroo, it is what had happened.

“You _really_ like to use my headphones! You know what? I’m going to put some music in the computer.”

Hope had turned on her device and started to look for music files. I believed that in this day she was looking for something specific.

“I feel wanting to listen to ballads today. What do you think, Litten?”

I turned to her and nodded in agreement while placing a paw in one of the headphones’ speakers. She then left double clicked in a file and adjusted the volume of her high-tech sound system. A very soothing ballad begun playing… and it was beautiful. Somehow nostalgic and sentimental. The lyrics of the singer were clearly a platonic love song, talking about a genderless couple in love that kept discovering things about the world and themselves. That’s when Hope observed I was paying a lot of attention to the audio track. My eyes opened wide after the information she had given to me:

“Do you like this song? I can tell you what is the name of this track. It’s called _Journeys_!”

What a _tremendous_ coincidence. This old tune was talking about Ash and Goh, even though it was composed way before the children, Hope and I were born! I looked behind the window glass and observed the horizon as I chilled out with the ballad, whose refrain declaimed:

_“And there go the two restless souls,_

_Discovering the world and how to love,_

_In a never-ending number of strolls,_

_That nobody could ever dream of_

_This would be the journey of their lives.”_

My heart felt a great warmth listening to this. Those kids are _surely_ having an _adventure of a lifetime_. And more will come in their journeys to become a Pokémon Master and a Pokémon Professor. They had left for twenty minutes and I was already missing both of them and their Pokémon partners. But now that I knew where they usually settle down it was all a matter of paying them a visit once in a while. I was sure I would meet them again one day. _And who knows_ , maybe in the company of Hope. _That’s_ what _I hope._

**Author's Note:**

> Love is powerful and it can lead to extraordinary actions. And when there's willpower to overcome personal struggles and other obstacles in life, little miracles can happen! :)
> 
> (EDIT late May 2020): I'm overwhelmed by the positive reception I got so far for this story! Thanks a lot, all of you! I'm already considering writing a sequel and perhaps adding a few illustrations to complement this fanfiction series. Stay tuned and stay safe!


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